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34th Congress, ^ SENATE. (Rep.Com. 

, 1st Session. S \ No. 34. 



IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES. 



March 12, 1S3G. — Submitted, aud ordered to be printed, together with the views of the mi- 
nority of the commictee upon the same subject. Motion to print 62,000 additional copies 
referred to the Committee on Printing. 



Mr. Douglas made the following 

REPORT. 

The Committee on Territories, to lohom ivas referred so much of the annual mes- 
sage of the President of the United States as relates to Territorial ajfairs, to- 
gether with his special message of the 24th dag of Jamcarg, 1856^ in rzgard to 
Kansas Territory, and his message of the I8th of February, in compliance with the 
resolution of the Senate of the 4th of February, 1856, reqiiesting tianscripts of 
certain 'papers relative to the affairs of the Territory of Kansas, having given the 
same that serious and mature deliberation lehich the importance of the subject 
demands, beg leave to submit the folloiving report: 

Youf committee deem this an appropriate occasion to state briefly, but distinctly, 
thfe p\"-inciples upon which new States may be admitted and Territories organized 
under the authority of the constitution of the United States. 

The constitution (section ?>, article 4) provides that " new States may be admit- 
''ted by the Congress into this Union." 

Section 8, Article 1 ; " Congress shall have power to make all laws which shall be necessary 
and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by 
this constitution in the government of the United States, or in &nj department or office 
thereof." 

10th amendment: " The powers not delegated to the United States by the constitution, nor 
prohibited hj it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." 

A State of the federal Union is a sovereign power, limited only by the constitu- 
tion of the United States. 

The limitations which that instrument has imposed are few, specific, and uni- 
form — applicable alike to all the States, old and new. There is no authority for 
putting a restriction upon the sovereignty of a new State, which the constitution 
has not placed on the original States. Indeed, if such a restriction could be im- 
posed on any State, it would instantly cease to be a State within the meaning of 
the federal constitution, and, in consequence of the inequality, wouli assimilate to 
the condition of a province or dependency. Hence, equality an)ong all the States 
of the Union is a fundamental principle in our federative system — a principle em- 
bodied in the constitution, as the basis upon which the American Union rests. 

African slavery existed in all the colonies, under i\w. sanction of the British gov- 
ernment, prior to the Declaration of Indepciiden'ce. When the constitution of tne 
United States was adopted, it became the supreme law and bond of union between 
twelve slave-iiolding States and one non slavt^-holding Slate; each State reserved 
the right to decide the question of slavery for itself — to continue it as a domestic 
institution so long as it pleased, and to abolish it when it chose. 



AFFAIRS OP KANSAS. 



6^v^f ( 



In pursuance of this reserved right, six of the original blave-holding States have 
since abolished and prohibited slavery within their limits respectively, without con- 
sulting Congress or their sister Statee, while the other six have retained arid sus- 
tained it as a domestic institution, which, in their opinion, had become so firmly 
engrafted on their social systems, that the relation between the master and dave 
could not be dissolved with safety to either. In the meantime, eighteen new 
States have been admitted into the Union, in obedience to the federal constitution, 
on an equal footing with the origraal States, including, of course, the right of each 
to defide the question of slavery for itself. In deciding this question, it has so 
happened that nine of these new States have abohshed and prohibited slavery, 
while the other nine have retained and regulated it. That these new States had 
at the time of their admission, and still retain, an equal right, under the federal 
constitution, with the original States, to decide all questions of domestic policy for 
themselves, including that of African slavery, ought not to be seriously questioned, 
and certainly cannot be successfully controverted. \ 

They are all subject to the same supreme law, which, by the consent of eac$, 
constitutes the only limitation upon their sovereign authority. 

Since we find the right to admit new States enumerated among the powers e^:- 
pressly delegated in the constitution, the question arises, whence does Coiigre*? 
deri\'e authority to organize temporary governments for the Territories preparaton- 
to their admission into the Union on an equal footing with the original StatesV 
Your committee are not prepared to adopt the reasoning which deduces the powc^ 
from that other clause of the constitution which says : 

" Congress shall have power to dispose of and raake all needful rules and regulations re- 
specting the territory or other property belonging to the United States." 

The language of this clause is much more appropriate when applied to properfy 
than to persons. It would seem to have been employed for the purpose of confier- 
ring upon Congress the power of disposing of the ])ublic lands and other jy'opcrti/ 
helomjwg to the United States, and to make all needful rules and regulatpn.s for 
that purpose, rather than to govern the people who might purchase those lan& 
from the United States and become residents thereon. The word " territory " wa 
an appropriate expression to designate that large area of public lands of which thi 
United States had become the owner by virtue of the Revolution and the cessioij 
by the several States. The additional words " or other property belonging to thA 
United States " clearly show that the term " territory " was used in its ordinarji 
geographical sense to designate the public domain, and not as descriptive of thei 
whole body of the people, constituting a distinct political community, who have} 
no representation in Congress, and consequently no voice in making the laws upon) 
which all their rights and liberties would depend, if it were conceded that Con-| 
gress had the general and unlimited power to make all "needful rules and regula- 
tions concerning " their internal aftairs and domestic concerns. It is under this 
clause of the constitution, and from this alone, that Congress derives authority to! 
provide for the surveys of the public lands, for secui-ing pre-emption rights to 
actual settlers, for the establishment of land offices in the several States and Terri- 
tories, for exposing the lands to private and public sale, for issuing patents and 
confirming titles, and, in short, for making all needful rules and regulations for pro- 
tecting and disposing of the public domain and other property belonging to the 
United States. ' ' i 

These needful rules and regulations may be embraced, and usually are found, 
in general laws applicable alike to Slates and Territories, wherever the United' 
States may be the owner of the lands or other property to be regulated or disposetli 
of. It cari make tio diflference, under this clause of the constitution, whether the 
" territory, or other property belonging to the United States," shall be situated; 
in Ohio or Kansas, in A^bama or Alinnesota,jn California or Oregon ; the poweij 
of Congress to make needful rules and regulations is the same in the States and^ 



AFFAIRS OF KANSAS. 3 

Territories, to the extent that the title is vested in the United States. Inasmuch 
as the right of legislation in such cashes ref^t;S exclusively upon the fact of ownership, 
it is obvious it can extend only to the tracts of land to which the United States 
possess the title, and must cease in respect to each tract the instant it becomes 
private property by purchase from the United States. It will scarcely be con- 
tended that Congiess possesses the power to legislate for the people of those States 
in which public lands may be located, in respect to their internal affairs and do- 
mestic concerns, merely because the United States may be so fortunate as to own a 
portion of the te.'iitory and other projierty within the Hmits of those States. Yet 
it should be borne in mind that this clause of the constitution confers upon Con- 
gress the same power to make needful rules and regulations in the States as it does 
in the Territories, concerning the territory or other property belonging to the 
United States. 

In view of these considerations, your committee are not prepai-ed to affirm that 
Congress derives authority to institute governments for the people of the Territo- 
ries from that clause of the constitution which confei's the right to make needful 
lules and regulations concerning the teri'itory or other property belonging to the 
United States ; much less can we deduce the power fiom any supposed necessity, 
arising outside of the constitution, and not provided for in that instrument. The 
federal government is one of delegated and limited powers, clothed with no rightful 
authority which does not result directly and necessarily from the constitution. 
Necessity, when experience shall have clearly demonstrated its existence, may fur- 
nish satisfactory reasons for enlarging the authority of the federal government, by 
amendments to the constitution, in the mode prescribed in that instrument ; but 
cannot afford the slightest excuse for the assumption of powers not delegated, and 
which, by the tenth amendment, are expressly "reserved to the States respectively 
or to the people." Hence, befoie the power can be safely exercised, the right of 
Congress to organize Teiritories, by instituting temporary governments, must be 
traced directly to some provision of the constitution conferring the authority in ex- 
press terms, or as a means necessary and proper to carry into effect some one or 
more of the powers which are specifically delegated. Is not the organization of a 
Territory eminently necessary and proper as a means of enabling the people 
thereof to form and mould their local and domestic institutions and establish a 
State government under the authority of the constitution, preparatory to its ad- 
mission into the Union ? If so, the right of Congress to pass the organic act for 
the temporary government is clearly included in the provision which authorizes the 
admission of new Stales. This power, however, being an incident to an express 
grant, and resulting from it by necessary implication, as an appropriate means for 
carrying it into effect, must be exercised in harmony with the nature and objects 
of the grant from which it is deduced. The organic act of the Territory, deriving 
its validity from the power of Congress tx) admit new States, must contain no pro- 
vision or restriction which would destroy or impair the equality of the proposed 
Stale with the original States, or impose any hmitation upon its sovereignty which 
the constitution has not placed on all the States. So far as the organization of a 
Territory may be necessary and proper as a means of carrying into effect the pro- 
vision of the constitution for the admission of new States, and when exercised with 
reference only to that end, the power of Congress is clear and explicit ; but beyond 
that point the authority cannot extend, for the reason that all "powers not dele- 
gated to the United States by the constitution, nor prohibited by it tc the States, 
are reserved to the States respectively, or to the peo})le." In other words, the or- 
ganic act of the Territory, conforming to the spirit of the grant from which it re- 
ceives its validity, must leave the people entirely free to form and regulate their 
domestic institutions and internal concerns in their own way, subject only to the 
constitution of the United States;, to the end that when they attain the requisite 
population, and establish a Stale government in conformity to the federal constitu 



4 AFFAIRS OF KANSAS 

tion, tliey may be admitted into the Union on an equal footing with the original 

States in all respects whatsoever. . , ^ •. • e tt i xt 

The act of Conffress for the organization of the Territories of Kansas and Ne- 
braska was designed to conform to the spirit and letter of the federal conslitution, 
bv preservino- and maintainiucr the fundamental principle of equality among all the 
States of thcfUnion, notwithstanding the restriction contained in the 8th section of 
the act of March 6, 1820, (preparatory to the admission of Missouri into the L^nion,) 
which assumed to deny to the people f-.rever the right to settle the question of 
slavery fur themselves, provided tney should make their homes and orgamze States 
north of thirty-six degrees and thirty minutes north latitude Conforming to the 
cardinal principles of State equality and s.lf-government, in obedience to he con- 
stitution, the Kansas-Nebraska act declared, in the precise language of the com- 
promise measures of 1850, that, " when admitted as a State, the said Territory, or 
any portion of the same, shall be received into the Union, with or without slavery, 
as their constitutions may prescribe at the time of their admission Again, after 
declarina- the ^d 8th section of the Missouri act (sometimes called the Missouri, 
compromise, or Missouri restriction) inoperative and void as being repugnant to 
these principles, the purpose of Congress, in passing the act, is declared m these 

words : . c-* ^ '■ 

" It beino- the true intent and meai.iug of this act not to legislate slavery into any State or 
Territorv nor to exclude it therefrom, but to leave the people thereof perfectly free to torm 
lrdrepu\altheu domestic institutions in their own way, subject only to the constitution ot 
he United States." 

The passao% of the Kansas-Nebraska act was strenuously resisted by all persons 
who thoughriLa less evil to deprive the P-P^« ^^ --States n^Temtorie^^ 
the ri^ht of StVe equality aud self-government under the ^'^"^^l^^^^^^''^"',. TTn^nn 
ow them to decide the slavery question for.themselves, as every State ot the Un on 
had done, and must retain the' undeniable right to do, so long as the constitu ion 
of the United States shall be maintained as the supreme law o the land, ^ind- 
im. opposition to the principles of the act unavailmg in the halk, o Gong. ess and 
un'dei the forms of the constitution, combinations were immediate y entered mto 
in some^portions of the Union to control the political destinies, and ^^^'^j; '^g' , 
ulate thi domestic institutions, of those Territories and future States, thi ou^h the 
machinery of emigrant aid societies. In order to give consis ency and ^-^h^iency 
to the movement, and surround it with the color ot legal authonty, ^^",^^tol in- 
corporation was t.rocured from the legislature of the State o^ ^^^^^^^^''^^^f '^" 
which it was provided, in the first section, that t^'enty persons therein named, and 
their "associates, successors, and assigns, are h.ereby made a corporation, by he, 
name of the Massachusetts Emigrant Aid Company, tor the pmpose <^ ^^^ 
emigrants to settle in the West; and for this purpose they shall ^^^ f J f. P^^^J 
ers and privileges, and be subject to all the duties, restnc ions, and liabiht es set 
forth in die 38% and 44th chapters of the revised statutes" ot Massachuset^. 

The second section limited the capital stock of the company to five tni U'ons ot 
dollars, and authorized the whole to be invested in real and personal estate, witU 
tT proviso that ''the said corporation shall not hold real estate in this^ common- 
wealth (Massachusetts) to an amount exceeding twenty thou.sand do"'^''^; 

The third section provided IW <lividing the capital stock ot the ^'^H^^f ^'^" ^"^^a 
shares of one hundred dollars CRch, and prescrib. d the mode, time, and amounts 
in which assessments might be niide on each shaie. 
The fourth and last section was in these words: 

" At all mectin-s of the stockholders, t-ach stockholder shall be entitled to cast one vote for 
each shSeTiSdH hi ;;>-->/-/, tlint 'no stockholder shall be entitled to cast more than hfty 
votes on shares held by himself, nor more than filty votes by proxy. 

Although the act of incoiporation does not distinctly declare that the ^-"^W 
was formed for the purpose of controlling the domestic institutions c.t the I'^-'^^^iy 
of Kansas, and forcing it into the Union with a prohibition ot slavery in lier con- 



AFFAIRS OF KANSAS. 

stitiiiion, regardless of the rights and v/ishcK of the y^eople as guarantied by the 
constitution of the United States, and secured b}' their organic hiw, yet the whole 
history of the movement, the circumstances in which it had its origin, and the 
prolVssions and avowals of all engaged in it, render it certain and undeniable that 
such was its object. 

To remove all doubt upon this point, your committee will here pr«ent a few 
extracts fi-om a p:imphlet published by the company soon after its organization, 
under the following caption : 

"Organization, objects, and plan of operations of the Emigrant Aid Company; also, a de- 
scription of Kansas, for the information of emigrants. 

" Trustees — Amos A. Lawrence, Boston: J. il. S. Williams, Cambridge; Ely Thayer, Wor- 
cester. 

" Treasurer, Amos A. Lawrence. 

" Secretary^ Thomas IL Webb, Boston. 

" For the purpose of answering numerous communications concerning the plan of opera- 
tions of the Emigrant Aid Company, and the resources of Kansas Territory, which it is 
proposed now to settle, the secretary of the company has deemed it expedient to publish the 
following definite information iu regard to this particular : ■•■ * •■■ * " ^? * s « «■ 

"For these purposes it is recommended, 1st. That the trustees contract immediately with 
some of the competing lines of travel for the conveyance of 20,000 persons from Massachusetts 
to that place in the West which the trustees shall select for their first settlement. * * * 

"It is recommended that the company's agents locate and take up for the company's bene- 
fit, the sections of land in which the boarding-houses and mills are located, and no others. 
And further, whenever the Territory shall be organized as a free State, the trustees shall dis- 
pose of all its interests there, replace by the sales the money laid out, declare a dividend to 
the stockholders, and that they then select a new field, and make similar arrangements 
for the settlement and organization of another free State of this Union. * *''» ■» * * 

"With the advantages attained hj such a system of effort, the territory selected as the scene 
of operations would, it is believed, be filled up with free inhabitants. * JP* •■■ * ••■ ■•■ 

"There is reason to suppose several thousand men of New England origirr propose to emi- 
grate under the auspices of some such arrangement, this very summer. Of the whole emigra- 
tion from Europe, ansountiog to some 400,000 persons, there can be no difficulty in inducing 
some thirty or forty thousand to take the same direction. * * * ■•• •■■ •••■ * ® * * 

" Especially will it prove an advantage to Massachusetts, if she create the new State by her 
foresight, supplj' the necessities to its inhabitants, and open in the outset communications 
between their homes and her ports and factories. * * * ■■■ ® * * s- * » * * 

" It determines in the right v.a}' the institutions of the unsettled Territories, in' less time 
than the discussion of them has required in Congress." 

Having thus secured from the State of Massachusetts the color of legal authority 
to sanction their proceedings, in perversion of the plain provisions of an act of 
Congress passed in pursuance of the constitution, the company commenced its op- 
erations by receiving subscriptions to its capital stock, and exerting its whole power 
to harmonize, combine, and direct, in the channel it should mark out, all the ele- 
ments of opposition to the principles of the Kansas and Nebraska act. The plan 
adopted was to make it the interest of a large body of men, who sympathised with 
them in the objects of the co)poratiou, to receive their aid and protection, and, un- 
der the auspitjfcs of the company, to proceed to Kansas, and acquire whatever resi- 
dence, and do whatever acts, might be found necessary to enable them to vote at 
the elections, and through the ballot-box, if possible, to gain control over the legis- 
lation of the Territory. This movement is justified by those who originated and 
control the plan, upon the ground that the persons whom they sent to Kansas were 
freemen, who, under the constitution and laws, had a perfect right to emigrate to 
Kansas or any other Territory ; that the act of emigration was entirely voluntary 
on their part, and when they arrived in the Territory as actual settlers, they had 
as good a right as any other citizens to vote at the elections and participate in the 
control of the government of the Territory. This would undoubtedly be true in a 
case of oidinary emigration, sncli as has filled up our new States and Territories, 
where each individual has gone, on his own account, to improve his condition and 
thai of his family. But it is ;>, very different thing where a State creates a vast 
moneveii corporation for the purpose of controlling the domestic institutions of a 
distinct political community fifteen hundred miles distant, and sends out the emi- 



6 AFFAIRS OF KANSAS. 

orrantR only as a means of accomplishing its paraiiiouut political objecL^. When a 
powerful corporation, with a capital of five millions of dollars invested in houses 
and lands, in merchandise and mills, in cannon and rifles, in powder and lead — in 
all the implements of art, agriculture, and war, and employing a corresponding 
number of men, all under the management and control of non-resident direc.oi-s 
and stockholders, who are authorized by their charter to vote by proxy to the extent 
of fifty votes each, enters a distant and sparsely-settled Territory with the fixed 
purpose of wielding all its power to control the domestic instituiions and political 
destitiies of the Territory, it becomes a question of fearful import how far the ope- 
rations of the company are compatible with the rights and liberties of the people. 
Whatever may be the extent or limit of congresi^ional authority over the Territo- 
ries, it is clear that no individual State has the right to pass an) law or authorize 
any act concerning or aflVcting the Territories, which it might not enact in refer- 
ence to any other State. 

If the people of any State should become so much euamoied with their own 
peculiar institution as to conceive the philanthropic scheme of forcing so great a 
blessing on their unwilling neighbois, and with that view should create a mam- 
moth moneyed corporation, for the avowed purpose of sending a, sufficient number 
of their young men into a neighboring State, to remain long enough to acquire the 
right of voting, with the fixed and paramount object of reversing the settled policy 
and changing the domestic institutions of such Stale, would it not be deemed an 
act of aggression, as offensive and flagrant as if attempted by direct and open 
violence? It is a well-settled principle of constitutional law, in this country, that 
while all the States of the Unioi) are united in one for certain purposes, yet each 
State, in respect t? everything which affects its domestic policy and internal con- 
cerns, stands ici-the relation of a foreign power to every other State. 

Hence, no State has a right to pass any,law, or do or authorize any act, with 
the view^ to mfluence or change the domestic policy of any other State or Terri'ory 
of the Union, more tha|i it would with reference to France or England, or any 
other foreign Snate with which we are at peace. Indeed, every State of this 
Union is under hieher obligations to observe a friendly forbearance and generous 
comity towaids each other member of tiie confederacy than the laws of nations 
can impose on foreign States. While foreign States are restrained from all acts of 
aggression and unkindness only by that spirit of comity which the laws of nations 
enjoin upon all friendly powers, we have assumed the additional obligation to obey 
the constitution, which secures to every State the right to control its own internal 
affairs. If repugnance to domestic slavery can justify Massachusetts in incoiporat- 
ing a mammoth company to influence and control that question in any State or 
Territory of this Union, the same piinciple of action would authorize France or 
England to use the same means to accomplish the same end in Brazil or Cuba, or 
in fifteen States of this Union ; while it would license the United States to inter- 
fere with serfdom in Russia, or polygamy in Turkey, or any other obnoxious insti- 
tution in any part of the world. The same principle of action, when sanctioned 
by our example, would authorize all the kingdoms, and empires, and despotisms in 
the world to engage in a common ciusade against republicanism in America, as an 
institution quite as obnoxious to them as domestic slavery is to any portion of the 
people of the United States. 

If our obligations arising under the laws of nations are so imperative as to make 
it our duty to enact neutrality laws, and to exert the whole poAver and authority of 
■the executive branch of the government, including the army and navy, to enforc^i 
them, in restraining our citizens from interfering with the internal concerns of 
foreign States, can the obligations of eacli State and Territory of this Union be less 
imperative under the federal constitution, to observe entire neutrality in re- 
spect to the domestic institutions of the several States and Territories? Non- 
interference with the internal concerns of other States is recognised by all civil- 



AFFAIRS OF KANSAS. 7 

ized countries as a fundamentnl principle of tl)e laws of nations, for the reason 
that the peace ot the world could not be maintained for a single day without it 
Mow, then, ca^i we hope to preserve peace and fraternal feelings among the differ- 
ent portions of this republic, unless we yield implicit obedience^o a principle which 
has a 1 the sanction ot patriotic duty as well as constitutional oblifration « 

When the emigrants sent out by the Massachusetts Emigrant Aid Company, 
and their afhliated societies, passed through the State of Missouri in laraenum' 
bers on their way to Kansas, the violence of their language, and the unmistakable 
mdications of their determined hostility to the domestic institutions of that State 
created apprehensions that the object of the company was to abolitionize Kansas as 
a means ot prosecutmg a relentless warfare upon the institutions of slavery within 
the limits of Missouri. These apprehensions increased and spread with the pro- 
gress of events, until they became the settled convictions of the peo]>le of that por- 
tion of the State most exposed to the danger by their proximity to the Kansas 
border. Ihe natural consequence was, that immediate steps were taken bv'the 
people of the western counties of Missouri to stimulate, organize, and carry into 
ettect a system of emigration similar to that of the Massachusetts Emigrant Aid 
Company, for the avowed purpose of counteracting the efiects, and protecting 
themselves and their domestic institutions from the consequences, of that company'! 
operations. t ^ i j 

The material difference in the character of the two rival and conPxictina move- 
ments consists m the fact that the one had its origin in an aggressive, and the other 
in a defensive policy ; the one was organized in pursuance of the provisions and 
claiming to act under the authority of a legislative enactment of a distant State 
whose internal prosperity and domestic security did not depeil Upon the success 
ot the movement; while the other was the spontaneous action 'ftf-tjie people living 
in the immediate vicinity of the theatre of operations, excited, by a sense of com 
mon danger, to the necessity of protecting their own firesides ' from the appre- 
hended horrors ot servile insurrection and intestine war. Both parties, conceiving it 
to be essential to the success of their respective plans that they should be upon the 
field ot operations prior to the first election in the Territory, selected principally 
young men, persons unencumbered by families, and whose conditions in life ena- 
bled them to leave at a moment's warning, and move with great celerity to go at 
once, and select and occupy the most eligible sites and favored locations in the 
ierritory, to be held by themselves and their associates who should follow them. 
I'or the successful prosecution of such a scheme, the Missourians who lived in the 
mimediate vicinity possessed peculiar advaatages over their rivals from the more 
remote portions of the Union. Each family could send one of its members across 
the line to mark oat his claim, erect a cabin, and put in a small crop, sufficient to 
give iiira as valid a right to be deemed an actual settler and qualified voter as 
those who were being imported by the emigrant aid societies. In an uncx-cupied 
lerntory, where the lands have not been surveyed, and where there were no marks 
or hues to indicate the boundaries of sections and quarter sections, and where no 
legal title could be had until after the surveys should be made, disputes, quarrels 
violence, and bloodshed might have been expected as the natural and inevitable 
consequences ot such extraordinary systems of emigration, whirdi divided and 
arrayed the settlers into two great hostile parties, each having an inducement to 
cJaim more than was his right, in order to hold it for some new comer of his own 
party, and at the same time prevent persons t)elongin<r to the opposite party from 
settling m the neighborhood. As a result of this state of things, the great mass of 
emigrants from the Northwest and from other States, who went there on their own 
account, with no other object and influence, by no other motives than to improve 
their condition and secure good homes for their families, were compelled to array 
themselves under the banne.of one of these hostile parties, in order to insure protec- 
tion to themselves and their claims against the aggressions and violence of the other. 



8 AFFAIRS OF KANSAS. 

At the first election held in the Territory, on the 29th day of November, 1854, 
for a delegate to Congress, J. W. Whitfield was chosen by an overwhelming majority, 
havino- received the votes of men of all parties who were in fiivor of the principles 
of the Kansas-Nebraska act, and opposed to placing the political destinies of the 
Territory in the keeping of the Abolition party of the northern States, to be man- 
ao-ed through the machinery of their emigrant aid companies. No sooner was the 
result of the election known, than the defeated party proclaimed, throughout the 
length and breadth of the republic, that it had been produced by the invasion of 
the Territory by a Missouri mob, which had overawed and outnumbered and out- 
voted the bonu-fide settlers of the Territory. By reference to the executive journal 
of the Territory, which will be found in the papers furnished by the President of 
the United States in response to a call of the Senate, it will be found that Gover- 
nor Reeder, in obedience to what he considered to be a duty enjoined on him by 
the act of Congress organizing the Territory, on the 10th day of November, 1854, 
issued a proclamation, prescribing the time, place, and mode of holding the elec- 
tion, and appointing by name three citizens of the Territory residing in each elec- 
tion district to conduct the election in such district, together with the following 
oath, which was taken by the judges before entering on their duties, to wit: 

'' We do severally swear that we will perform our duties as judges of the election to be held 
this day in the district of the Territory of Kansas, to the best of our judgment and abil- 
ity; that we will keep a correct and faithful record or list of persons who shall vote at said 
election; that we will poll no tickets from any person who is not an actual bona-Jide resident 
and inhabitant of said Territory on the day of election, and whom we shall not honestly believe 
to be a qualitied voter according to the act of Congress organizing said Territory ; that we 
will reject the votes of all and every non-resident whom we shall believe to have come into 
the Territory for tb« mere purpose of voting : that in all cases where we are ignorant of the 
voter's right, we will require legal evidence thereof, by his own oath or otherwise; that we 
will make a true and faithful return of the votes which shall be polled to the governor of the 
said Territory." • 

The same proclamation pointed out in detail the mode in which the election 
should be conducted ; and, among other things, that the polls will be opened for 
reception of votes between eight and ten o'clock a.m., and kept open continually 
until six o'clock p.m.; that the judges will keep two corresponding lists of persons 
who snail vote, numbering each name, that when a dispute arises as to the quali- 
• fications of a voter, the judges shall examine the voter, or any other persons, under 
oath, upon the subject, and the decision of a majority of the board will be con- 
clusive ; that when the election shall close, the judges shall open and count the 
votes, and keep two corresponding tally-lists, and if the tally-lists shall agree, the 
judges shall then publicly proclaim the result, and shall make up and sign dupli- 
cate certificates in the form prescribed ; and shall certify, under their oaths, that 
the certificate is a true and correct return of the votes polled by lawful resident 
voters. 

The proclamation also provides that the iickets or votes polled shall, after being 
counted, be again deposited in the box, together with one copy of the oath, and one 
list of the voters, and one tally-list, and one certificate of return ; and that the 
judges shall seal them up in the box, and carefully ])reserve the same until called 
for by the governor of said Territory, in the event of its correctness being con- 
tested; and that the rejnaining copy of the oath, list of voters, tally-list, and re- 
turn, will be taken by one of the judges, who shall deliver the same in person to 
the governor. 

The proclamation also provides that "In case any person or persons shall dis- 
pute the fairness or coriectntss of the ii^turn of any election district, they shall 
make a written statement, directed to the governor, and setting forth the specific 
cause of complaint or errors in the conducting or le.turning of the election in said 
district, signed by not less than ten qualified voters of the Territory, and with an 
atiidnvit of one or more .qualified voters to the truth of the fact therein stated; 
and ilie said comjtlaint and affidavit shall be presented to the governor on or before 



AFFAIRS OF KANSAS. 9 

the fourth day of December next, when tlie proper proceedings will be taken to 
hear and decide such complaint." ° 

B7 reference to the executive journal of the Territor}^, we find the followino- 
entry : ° 

"December 4 1854.— The judges of the several' election districts itifide return of the votes 
polled at the election held on the 29th day of November last, for a delegate to the House of 
Representatives ot the United States; from which it appeared that the votes in the said sev- 
eral districts were as follows, to wit:" 

_ Here follows a list of the votes cast for each candidate in (.'ach of the seventeen 
districts of tlie Territory, showing that 

J. W. Whitfield had received 2 258 votes. 

All other persons received '575 u ' 

And on the same page is the following entry : 

''December 5, 1854.— On examining and collating the returns, J. W. Whitfield is declared hv 
the governor to be duly elected delegate to the House of Representatives of the United States 
T°w wl'^^/,'^'''^/!'? ^^/''ifi'^'ite of the governor, under the seal of the Territory, issued to said 
J. vV. Whitfield of his election" 

It nowhere appears that General Whitfield's right to a seat by virtue of that 
election was ever contested. It does not appear tliat " ten qualified voters of the 
Territory" were ever found who were willing to make, the " written statement di- 
rected to the governor, with an affidavit" of one or more quaHfied voters to the 
"truth of tl>e facts therein stated," to "dispute the fairness or correctness of the 
returns," or to " set forth specific cause of complaint or ei-rors in the conductino- or 
returning of the election" in any one of the seventeen districts of the Territory 
Certain it is, that there could not have been a system of fraud^rid violence .such 
as has been charged by the agents and supporters of the emi^aht aid societies 
unless the governor and judges of election were parties to^it ; and your com- 
mittee are not pi-epared to assume a fact so disreputable to them, and so improba- 
ble upon the state of facts presented, without specific charges and diiect proof In 
the absence of all proof and probable truth, the charge that the Missourians had 
invaded the Territory and C'^ntrolled the congressional election bj fraud and vio- 
lence, was circulated throughout the free States, f-nd made the b:isis of tht niost 
inflaramatoiy appeals to all men opposed to the principles of the Kansas-Nebraska 
act to emigrate or send emigrants to Kansas, for the purpose of repelling the inva- 
ders, and assisting their friends who were then in the Territory in putting down the 
slave power, and prohibiting slavery in Kansas, with the view of making it a free 
State. Exaggerated accounts of the large number ot emigrants on their'way under 
the auspices of the emigrant aid companies with the view of controlling the elec- 
tion for members of ihe Territorial legislature, which was to fake phice on the 
30th of March, 1855, were published and circulated. The:?e accounts being repub- 
lished and believed in Missouri, where the excitement had already been inffamed to 
a fearful intensity, induced a corresponding effort to send at least an equal number 
to counteract the apprehended result of this new importation. Your committee 
have not been able to obtain definite and satisfactory information in regard to the 
alleged irregularities in conducting the election, and the number of illegal votes on 
the 30th of March; but, from the most reliable sources of information accessible to 
your committee, including various papers, documents, and statements, kindiv fur- 
nished by Messrs. Whitfield and Reeder, rival claimants of the delegate's seat in 
Congress for Kansas Territory, it would seem that the facts are substantially as 
follows : ■' 

The election was held in obfdience t6 the proclatnation of the governor of the 
Territoiy, which prescribed the mode of proceeding, the form of the oath and re- 
turns, the precautionary safeguards against illegal voting, and the mode of con- 
testing the election, which were, in substance, the same as those already referred to 
in connexion with the congressional election. When the period arrived for the 
governor to canvass the returns, and issue certificates to the persons elected, it ati- 



10 AFFAIRS OF KANSAS. 

peared lliat protests had been filed against the fairness of the proceedings and the 
correctness of the returas, in seven out of the eighteen election districts into which 
the Territory had been divided for election purposes, alleging fraudulent and illegal 
voting by persons who were not actual vsettlers an<l qualified voters of the Territory. 
It also appears that in some oi these contested ca-es the foim of tlie oath adminis- 
tered to the judges, and of the returns made by them, were not in conformity to 
the proclamation of the governor. After a careful investigation of the facts of 
each case, as presented by the returns of the judges, ai'd the pi-otests and allega- 
tions of all persons who disputed the fairness of ttie election and the correctness of 
the returns, the governor came to the conclusion that it was bis duty to set aside 
the election in these seven disputed districts; the effect of which was, to create two 
vacancies in the council, and nine in the house of representatives of the Territory, 
to be filled by a nevv election; and to chunge the result so far as to cause the cer- 
tificate for one councilman and one representative to issue to ditterent persons than 
those returned as elected by the judges. Accordingly the governor issued his 
wnits for special elect;ous, to be held on the 24th of May, to fill those vacancies, 
and, at the same time, granted certificates of election to eleven councUnit-n and 
seventeen representatives, whose ekfction had not been eonti.-sled, and whom he 
adjudged to have been fairly elected. At the special election to fill these vacaocies, 
three of llie pei-suus whose election on the .30th of March had been set aside for the 
reasons already stated, were re-elected, and in the other .Jisnicts dlft'cient persons 
were returned; and the governor having adjudged them t" have been duly elected, 
accordingly granted them certificates of election ;"thus making the full complement 
of thirteen councilmen and twenty-six representatives, of whom, by tlie organic 
law of the Territory, the legislature was tu be composed. On the iVthdayof 
April the governor issued his proclamation, summoning these thirteen councilmtrn 
and twenty-six representatives, whom he had commissioned as having been fairly 
elected, to assemble at Pawnee City on the 2d day of July, and organize as the 
legislature of the feriitory of Kansas. 

It appears from ihe journal that the two houses did assemble, in obeiiieoce to 
the governor's proclamation, at the time and place ap|,'ointed by tim, and, after the 
oath of office had been duly administered by one of the judges of the supreme 
court of the Territory to each of the members who held the governor's cerlificaLe, 
proceeded to organize their respective houses by the election of cheir officers; and 
each notified the other, by resolution, that they were ihus duly organized. Abo, 
by joint resolution, appointed a committee who waited on the governor, and in- 
formed him that "the two houses of the Kansas legislaiure are organized, and are 
now ready to proceed to business, and to receive" such communication as he may 
deem necessary. 

In response to this joint resolution, '' a message from the governor, by Mr. llig- 
gins, his private secretaiy, transmitting his message, was received, and ordered to 
be read." 

The message commences thus : 

" To the Honorable the Council and House of Representatives of the Territory of Kansas : 

" Having beon duly notified that your respective bodies have organized for the perfomiance 
of your official functions, I herewitli submit to you the usual executive communications rel- 
ative to subjects of legislation, which universal and long-continued usage in analogous cases 
would seem to demand, although no express requirement of it is to be found in the act of 
Congress which has brought us into official existence, and prescribed our official duties. 

" The position which we occupy, and the solemn trust which is confided to us for originating 
the lav/s and institutions, and moulding the destinies of a new republic in the very geograph- 
ical centre of our vast and magnificent confederation, cannot but impress us with a deep and 
solemn sense of the heavy responsibility which we have assumed, and ftdmouish us to lay aside 
all selfish and equivocal motives, to discard all unworthy ends, and, in the spirit of justice 
and charity to each other, with pure hearts, tempered feelings, and sober judgments, to ad- 
dress ourselves to our task, and so perform it iu the fear aud reverence of that God who over- 
sees our work, that the star that we expect to add to the national banner shall be dimmed by 



AFFAIRS OF KANSAS. 11 

no taini or tarnish of dishonor, and be subject to no rei)roach save that whicb springs from 
the inevitable fallibility of just and upright men." 

The governor, witb the view to the " a<certaiiiraent of the existing law" in the 
Territory, proceeds to trace the history of all legislation affecting it since the coun- 
try was acquired from France, and advises the legislature to pass such laws as the 
public interest might require upon all appropriate subjects of legislation, and par- 
ticnlarly the slavery question, the division of the Territory into counties, the or- 
ganization of county courts, the election of judi(;ial and ministerial officers, educa- 
tion, taxes, revenues, the location of the permanent seat of government, and the or- 
ganization of the militia, as subjects worthy of their immediate attention. 

From this message, as well as from all the official acts uf the governor preceding 
it, halving reference to the election and return of the members and the convening 
of the two houses for legislative business, the conclusion is irresistible, that up to 
tliis period of time the governor had never conceived the idea — if, indeed, he has 
since entertained it — that the two houses were spurious and fraudulent assemblies, 
having no rightful authority to pass laws which would be binrling upon the people- 
of Kansas. On the first day of the session, and immediately after the organization 
of the house was eftected, the following resolution was adopted : 

" Resolved, That all persons who may desire to contest the seats of any persons now hold- 
ing certificates of election as members of this house, may present their protests to the com- 
mittee on credentials, and that notice thereof shall be given to the persons holding such cer- 
tificates." 

On the 4th day of July, (being the third day of the session,) the majority of the 
committee, including four of the five members, reported that, " having heard and 

EXAMINED ALL THE EVIDENCE TOUCHING THE MATTER OF INQUIRY BEFORE THEM, 

and taking the organic law of Congress, passed on the 20th day of May, in the 
year 1854, organizing the Territories of Kansas and Nebraska," as their guiding- 
star, they have arrived at the conclusions which they proceed to elucidate and 
enforce in a lengthy report. From this report, it appears that fifteen out of 
twenty-two members present were permitted to retain their seats by unainmous 
consent, no one appearing to contest or dispute the fairness of the election, or 
regularity or truthfulness of the return, in either of their cases. Hence the contest 
was reduced to the claims of one member v/ho received the certificate under the 
general election of the 30th March, and the six members present who leceived 
certificates under the special election of the 24th of May. In the first case the 
decision of th« governor was reversed, and the seat awarded to the candidate 
who received the highest number of votes at the election on the 30th of March, 
and from whom the certificate had been withheld by the governor, upon the 
ground of irregularity in the election returns from one precinct, and the exclusion 
of which poll gave tLe majority to the opposing candidate. In the other six cases 
the sitting members were deprived of their seats ; and the candidates leceiving the 
highest number of votes at the general election on the 30th of March were 
awarded their places, upon the ground that the special election on the 24th of 
May was illegal and void, the governor not being authorized, by the organic law 
of the Territory, to go behind the returns, and set aside the election held on the 
30th of March. 

The minority report dissents from the reasoning, and protests against the con- 
clusions of the majority, and affirms the right of the sitting members to retain their 
seats, upon the ground that the governor's certificate was not merely prima-facie 
evidence, but was eonclusive, in respect to the rights of all claimants and contest- 
ants ; and hence the house could not go behind the certificates of election to in- 
quire whether there had been a previous election in those districts on the 30th of 
March, and who had receivetl the highest number of legal votes at that election. 
The proposition is thus stated ia the minority report: "I cannot agree that this 
body has the right to go behind the decision of the governor, who, by virtue of his 
office, is the organizing federal arm of the general government, to evolve and man- 



12 AFFAIRS OF KANSAS. 

age a new g^Vernmeiil for this Territory, for tlie f>bvious reason that Congrress 
makes him the sole judge of the qualificalior.s for membership." Tt is true, that 
the minority report alludes to "evidence before the committee of great deficiencies, 
not in the form of conducting the elections, but in the mannirr of holding thera, 
both as to the qualifications of the judges who presided, and the returns made out 
by them," and says there is "no doubt that these illegal proceedings on the one 
hand induced the governor to withhold certificates from some who, from the num- 
ber of votes returned in their favor, might at the same time appear to have been 
properly elected, and, ou the other, to have been the ground on which he presented 
a dotificate in one instance, and in another ordered a new election in reference to 
other districts." But while the rainoiity report affirms the right of the governor 
to go behind the returns and investigate, irregularities and illegal voting at the 
election, as well as deficiencies in the forms of the returns, and asserts that he did 
exercise this right in each case in which he granted or withheld a certificate, it 
maintains that the governor's decision, as evinced by his certificate^, was final and 
conclusive, and could not be reviewed, much less reversed, by either branch of the 
Territorial legislature. So far as the question involves the Jegality of the Kansas 
legislature, and the validity of its acts, it is entirely immaterial whether we adopt 
the reasoning and conclusions of the minority or majority repoits, for each proves 
that the legislature waslegally and duly constituted. The minority report estab- 
lishes the fact, by the position that the governor's certificate was conclusive, and 
that he granted certificates to ten out of ihe thirteen counci'men, and to seventeen 
out of the twenty-six representatives who finally held their seats, which was largely 
more than a quorum of each branch of the legislature. The majority report es- 
tablishes ihe same fact, by the position that aftei' going behind the governor's cer- 
tificate, and carefully examining the facts, they confirmed these same ten council- 
men and seventeen representatives in their seats, -Mid then awarded the sea s of the 
other three councilmen and nine representatives lo the candidates whom they be- 
lieved to have been legally elected at the general election on the 30th of March. 

The house, by eighteen votes in the affirmative to one vote in the negative, 
passed a resolution adopting the majority report, and declaring that the contestants 
"having been. duly elected ou the 30th of March, 1855, are entitled to their seats 
as members of 'this house." Whei'eupon four of the sitting members, whose seats 
were vacated by the adoption of the majority report, signed a protest, and asked 
that it be spread on the journal of the house, which was accordingly done in the 
following words: 

"Protest. 

"We, the undersigned members of the house of representatives of Kansas Territory, believe 
the organic act organizing the said Territory gives this house no power to oust any member 
from this house who has received a certificate from the governor; that this house cannot go 
behind an election called by the governor, and consider any claims based on a prior election. 
"We would therefore protest against such a proceeding, and ask this protest to be spread upon 
the iournal of this house. 

"JOHN HUTCHINSON, 
" WlLLIxVM JESSEE, 
"AUGUSTUS WATTLES, 
"E. D. LADD." 

Under date of July G, the journal contains a mes.sage from the governor to the 
"house of representatives of the Territory of Kansas," returning "house bill en- 
titled 'An act to remove the seat of government temporarily tc> the Shawnee Man- 
ual Labor School, in the Territory of Kansas,' together willi his objections " While 
the governor, in assigning his reasons for returning the bill, labors to prove that 
the legislature had ti-anscended its authority under ttie organic act, in adopting this 
particular measure, and argues against its expediency on the score of the luss of 
time and money in removing to a difleient place during the sessiou, he clearly and 
distinctly recognises the council and house of representatives as constituting the 



AFFAIRS OF KANSAS, 13 



the 



• 'legislature of the Territory of Kansas, elected and oi'ganized in cAformity to 
act of Congress creating the Territory. r 

The reasons of the governor for returning the bill were spread upon the journal, 
and, upon reconsideration, it was passed by a two-thirds vote in each branch of the 
legislature, and thus became the law of the land, " the objections of the governpr 
to the contrary notwithstanding." 

On the same day the following resolution was adopted by both houses : 

^^ Resolved by the House of Representatives of the Territory/ of Kansas, {the Council concurring 
therein,) That the legislatwre ol" said Territorj' do adjourn on the 6ih day of July, A. D. 1855 
to meet again on Monday, the IGth day of July, 1855, at 2 o'clock p. ra., at the Shawnee man- 
' ual-labor school, in the said Territory.' 

And on the same day the following resolution was also adopted by -both houses: 

" Resolved, That a committee of three be appointed on the part of the council, to act in con- 
junction with a committee on the part of the house of representatives, to inform his excellency 
the governor that the legislative assembly will adjourn this afternoon, to meet on Monday, 
the 16th instant, at the Shawnee manual-labor school, in the Territory of Kansas." 

On the 16th of July the two houbes assembled, in pursuance of the adjourn- 
ment, at the Shawnee manual-labor school, known as Shawnee Mission, and pro- 
ceeded to the discharge of their legislative duties. In tlie meantime the governor 
bad also repaired to Shawnee Mission, it being the place of his residence in the 
Territory, and the seat of the executive offices as established and continued by 
himself during the whole period he exercised the executive functions. 

On the 21st of July a message v/as received from the govei;nor, by his private 
secretary, Mr. Lowry, directed " To the House of Representatives of the Territory 
of Kansas," in which he says : • v .. 

" I return to your house, in which they originated, the bill entitled ' An §(et to prevent the 
sale of intoxicating liquors and games of chance within one mile of the Shawnee Manual 
Labor School in the Territory of Kansas,' and the bill entitled ' An act to establish a ferrv at 
the town of Atchison, in Kansas Territory,' without my approval. I see nothino- in the bills 
themselves to prevent my sanction of them, and my reasons for disapproval have been doubt- 
less anticipated by you, as necessarily resulting from the opinion expressed in my messa^^-e of 
the 6th instant." ^ • ° ' 

The governor then proceeds to argue the question at great length, ivhether the 
legislature is noio in session at a place which can he recor/nised as a seat of qov 
ernment lohere the business of legislation can be legally or legitimately carried on 

He does not question the fairness and legality of the election of the members 
composing the legislature ; nor the regularity and validity of their oro-anization • 
nor their competency as a legislature to pass all laws which they may deem neces- 
sary and proper for the best interests of the people of Kansas, 2»'ovided it shall be 
done at the right 2>luce. Upon this point he says; 

" It seems to be plain that the legislature now in session, so far as the place is concerned is 
in contravention of the act of Congress, and where they have no right to sit, and can make 
no valid legislation. Entertaining these views, I can give no sanction to any bill that mav 
be passed ; and if my reasons are not satisfactory to the legislative assembly, it follows that 
we must a^.t independently of each other." 

In conclusion the governor says : 

"If I am right in these opinions, and our Territory shall derive no fruits from the meeting 
of the present legislative assembly, I shall at least have the satisfaction of recollectinc that I 
called the attention of the assembly to the point before they removed, and that the responsi- 
bility, therefore, rests not on the executive.'' 

The governor having thus suspc^nded all official intercourse with the two branches 
of the legislature, refusing to examine their acts with a view of either approving- or 
disapproving them, they appointed a joint committee of the two houses to drauo-ht 
a memorial to the President of the United States, asking his removal from the 
office of governor; which memorial was signed by the presiding officers and mem- 
bers in joint session. The memorialists, after reviewing the causes which had led 
to such serious difficulties, and vindicating the right of the learislature, under the 



14 AFFAIRS OF KANSAS, 

organic act. to remove the seat of government from Pawnee City to Shawnee Mis- 
sion, concluded as follows : 

" In conclusion, we charge the governor, A. H. Reeder, with wilful neglect of the interests 
of the Territory; with endeavoring by all means in his i)Qwer to subvert the ends and objects- 
intended to be accomplished by the 'Kanzas and Nebraska bill,' by neglecting the public in- 
terests and making them subservient to private speculation; by aiding and encouraging per- 
sons in factious and treasonable opposition to the wishes of the majority of the citizens of the 
Territory, and the laws of the United States in force in said Territory ; by encouraging per- 
sons to violate the laws of the United States, and set at defiance the commands of the general 
government; by inciting persons to resist the laws which may be passed by the present 
legislative assembly of this Territory. For these, and many other reasons, we respectfully 
pray your excellency to remove the said A. H. Reeder from the exercise of the functions now 
neld by him in said Territory; and represent that a continuance of the same will be preju- 
dicial to the best interests of the said Territory. And, as in dutj bound, we will ever pray," 
&c., &c. 

[^Signed by the offictts and members of both houses.'] 

On the 15th of August, Governor Reeder addressed a note to the Department of 
State, acknowledging the receipt of a communication fri>m the acting Secretary, 
under date of the 28ih July, in which he was notified that ''in consequence of your 
[Governor Reedcr'sj purchase of Kansas half-breed lands," and " more esjiebially 
the undertaking of sundry persons, yourself included, to lay out new cities on mili- 
tary or other reservations in the Territory of Kansas," and " more particularly aS' 
you have summoned the legislative assembly of the Territory to meet at one of the 
places referred to, denominated in your official proclamation 'Pawnee City,' I luive, 
therefore, by the direction of the President, to notify you that your functions and 
authority as governor of the Territory of Kansas are hereby terminated." 

On the I6th of August, the journal of the house of representatives says : 

"The following message was received from Governor A. H. Reeder, by Mr. Lowry, his- 
private secretary: 

" To the honorable the members of the Council and House of Representatives of the Territory 

of Kansas 

" Gentlemkn: Although, in my message to your bodies under date of the 21st instant, [ult.] 
I slated that I was unable to convince myself of the legality of your session at this place, for 
reasons then given, and although that opinion still remains unchanged, yet, inasmuch as my 
reasons were not satisfactory to your body, and the bills passed by your houses have been up 
to this time sent to me for approval, it is proper that I should inform you that after your ad- 
ournment of yesterday I received oflScial notification that my functions as governor of the 
Territory of Kansas were terminated. No successor having arrived, Secretary Woodson will 
of course perform the duties of the oiBce as acting governor. 

"A. H. REEDER." 

Inasmuch as Governor Reeder dissolved his official relations with the legislature, 
and denied the validity of their acts, solely upon the ground that they were enacted 
i7i the wrong 2)lace, it becomes material to inquire whether it was competent for 
them, under the organic act, to remove the seat of government temporarily from 
" Pawnee City" to the Shawnee Mission. The 24th section of the organic act 
provides " that the legislative power of the Territory shall extend to all rightful 
subjects of legislation consistent with the constitution of the United States and the 
provisions of this act." 

That thu location of the seat of government, and the changing of the same 
whenever the public interests and convenience may require it, is a " rightful sub- 
ject of legislation," is too plain to admit of argument ; hence the power is clearly 
included in this general grant, and may be exercised at pleasure by the legislature^ 
unless it shall be made to appear that Congres?, by some other provision, has im- 
posed resti ictions or conditions upon its exercise. 

The thhty-first section of the organic act provides "that the te*nporary seat of 
government of said Teriitory is heieby located at Fort Leavenworth ; and that 
such portions of the public buildings as may not be actually used and needed for 
military purposes may be occupied and used, under the direction of the governor 
and legislative assembly, for such public purposes as may be required under the 



AFFAIRS OF KANSAS. 15 

• .provisions of tliis act;" and the twenty-second section of the same act provides 
that '"the persons thus elected to the iogislative assembly shall meet at such place 
and I'll such day as the governor shall appoint" for the first meeting. These two 
provisions, being parts of the same act, and having reference to the same subject- 
matior, must be taken together, and receive such a construction as will give full 
efl'ect to each, and not render either nugatory. While, therefore, the governor was 
authorized to convene the legislature, in the first instance, at such place as he 
should ap})oint. still he was required, by that provision which made Fort Leaven- 
worth the temporary seat of government, with the view of using some of the pub- 
lic buildings, to designate as the place some one of the public buildings within the 
miiitaj'Y reservation of Fort Leavenworth. Had not Congress, in the mean time, 
interposed and changed the law, as here presented, the governor would not have 
been authorized to have convened the legislature at "Pawnee City," or at any 
othtT place in the Territory than some one of the public buildings at Fort Leaven- 
worth, as provided in the organic act. 

In view of the fact that the Secretary of War had intimated an opinion that all 
of thn public buildings at Fort Leavenworth were needed for military purposes, and 
that the location of the seat of government, even temporarily, within the lines of a 
miruary reservation, where the military law must necessarily prevail, would be in- 
convenient, if not injuiious to the public service, the following piovision was 
adopted in the appropriation bill of the oth of August, 18 5-1, for the purpose of 
enabling the governor to erect buildings for the temporary seat of government at 
some more suitable and convenient point in the Territory : 

" That in the event that the Secretary of War shall deem it inconsistent with the interest of 
the military service to furnish a sufficient portion of the military buildings at Fort Leaven- 
worth for the use of the Territorial government of Kansas, the sum of twenty-five thousand 
dollars shall be, and in that contingency is herebj- appropriated, for the erection of public 
buildings for the use of the legislature of the Territory of Kansas, to be expended under the 
direction of the governor of said Territory." 

LTnder this provision, taken in connexion with that clause of the organic act 
which authorized the governor to convene the legislature at such place as he should 
appoint, he would have had the right to establish the temporary seat of govern- 

•' ment and erect the public buildings at Pawnee City, or any other place he might 
have selected in the Territory, instead of Fort Leavenworth, but for the fact that 
on the 3d of March, 1855, and before any portion of the money had been expended, 
or even the site selected, Congress made a further appropriation of twenty-five 
thousand dollars for public buildings, with the proviso " that said money, or any 
pan thereof, or any portion of the money heretofore appropriated for this purpose, 

. shall not be expended until the legislatui'C of said Territory shall have fixed by law 
the permanent seat of government." This provision did not confer upon the legis- 
lature any power in I'espect to the location of the seat of government, either tempo- 
rarily uY permanently, which it did cot previously possess ; for the general grant, 
extending to all "rightful subjects of legislation," necessarily included the right to 
determine the place of holding its sessions. The object, as well as legal eftect of 
this provision, was to restrain the governor from expending the appropriation until 
the voice of the people of Kansas should be expiessed, through their legislature, in 
the selection of the place ; leaving the governor to perform his whole duty under 
the 22d section of the organic act, by appointing the place and day of the first 
meeting of the legislatuie, and of expendiiig the money appropriated by Congress 
for the erection of public buildings, at such place as the legislature should desig- 
nate for the permanent seat of government of the Territory. 

Under this view of the subject, it is evident that the legislature was clothed with 
legitimate authority to enact the law in obedience to which its session was ad- 
journed from Pawnee City to Shawnee Mission; and that its enactments, made at 
the latter place, must have the same foice and validity that they would have pos- 
sessed had not the removal taken place. 



16 AFFAIRS OP KANSAS. 

Those who seek to find some tenable ground upon which to destroy the validity • 
of the legislative acts of Kansas, seeing that they cannot saftly rely upon the al- 
leged irregularity of the elections, lior upon the absence of legal authority in the 
leo-islature to remove the seat of government, Matter them?elves that they have re- 
cently discovered a new fact which will extricate them from their difficulty, and 
enable them to accomplish their puipose. It is, that by the titatics of November ' 
7, 1825, and of August 8, 1831, with the Shawnees of Missouri and Ohio, a large 
tract of land, including the Shawnee Mission, where the legislature Iield its session, 
and the governor established the executive ofHces, was secured to those Indians, 
with the guaranty on the part of the United States "that said lands shall never be 
within the bounds of any State or Territory, nor subject to the laws thereof;" and 
that the 19th section of the Kansas-Nebraska act provides that "nothing in this 
act contained shall be construed to inckule any territory which, by treaty with any 
Indian tribe, is not, without the consent of said tribe, to be included v^ithin the 
territorial limits or jurisdiction of any State or Territory ; but all such territory 
shall be excepted out of ihe boundaries, and constitute no part of the Territory of 
Kansas." Upon the authority of these clauses of the treaties, and of the act of 
Congress organizing the Territory, it is assumed that the Shawnee Mission, where , 
the legislature enacted those laws; was not within the limits or jurisdiction of the 
Territory of Kansas, and hence they were null and void. Without admitting, even 
by implication, that the place where the legislature should enact its laws would, to 
any extent, impair their validity, it is proper to call the attention of the Senate to 
the fact recorded on its journal, that, on the 10th of May, 1854, (only a few days 
before t-he passage of the Ka)!sas-Nebraska act,) a treaty was made with these 
same Innians, by the first article of which all the lands granted to them by the 
.said treaties of 1825 and 1831 were cede<l to the United States, and, being thus 
exempted from the operation of the guaranties in those treaties, were, by the terms 
of the organic act of Kansas, included within the limits, nnd rendeied subject to the 
jurisdiction of saifl Territory. 

The second article granted the house in which the legislature afterwards held its 
sessions, and the laud upon which the house stood, to the missionary society of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church South, in these words : 

" Of the lands lying cast of the parallel line aforesaid, there shall first be set apart to the 
missionarj- society of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, to include the improvements of 
the Indian manual-labor school, three sections of land ; to the Friends' Shawnee labor school, 
including the improvements there, three hundred and twenty acres of land; and to the Ameri- 
can Baptist Union, to include the improvements w^liere the superintendent of the school now 
resides, one hundred and sixty acres of land ; and also five acres of land to the Shawnee 
Methodist Church, including the meeting-house and grave-yard ; and two acres of land to the 
Shawnee Baptist Church, including the meeting-house and grave-yard." 

The other articles of the treaty provide for the survey of these l^nds, and for 
granting two himdred acres to each Shawnee Indian, to be held as private property, 
subject to such conditions as Congress should impose, and recognise tlie right of 
i\te legislature to lay out roads and public highways acioss the Indian lands, on 
the sam.e terms as the law provides for their location through the lands of citizens 
of the United States. The Rev. Thomas .Johnson, who was president of the Kan- 
sas legislative council, and also agent of the missionary society of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, to which the land* and improvements belonged, authorized the 
legislature to use and occupy such ])ortions of the buildings of which he held the 
lawful possession, as they should find convenient in the exercise of their legislative 
functions. 

Upon a careful review and examination of all the facts, laws, and treaties bear- 
ing upon the point, your committee are clearly of the opinion that the Shawnee 
manual-labor school was a place to which the ]egi?!ature might lawfully adjourn 
and enact valid laws in pursuance of the organic act of the Territory. 

"We do not deem it necessary to inquire into the expediency of the removal of 
the seat of government, for the reason that it cannot afl'ect the validity of the 



AFFAIRS OF KANSAS. 17 

legislative proceedings. It is sufficient to state, that the leasons assigned by 
the governcr against the expediency of the measure were : first, " the loss of 
time (more valuable because limited) which our organic law allots to the 
legislative session ;" and secondly, " because it Avill involve a pecuniary loss, 
in view of the arrangements which have been made at this place for our 
accommodation." As an offset to the unfortunate circumstance that the peopl'j of 
Kansas would be deprived, for the period of ton days, of all the advantages and 
protection which were expected to result from the wholesome laws which the gov- 
ernor had recommended them to enact upon all rightful subjects of legislation, 
and to the pecuniary loss which would be sustained in consequence of the removal 
from Pawnee City, the members of the legislature, in their memorial to the Presi- 
dent of the United States, asking him to remove the governor, state their reasons 
as follows, tor the allegation that there was an unnecessary loss of throe mon'hs* 
time after the election in convening the legislature, and that Pawnee was r.ut a 
suitable place for them to meet: 

"After the contest was over, and the result known, he delayed the assembling of the body 
until the 2d day of July — more than three months afterwards — and that, too, when the whole 
Union was convulsed on account of alleired outrages in Kansas Territoiy, and yet no law for 
the puiii.-hmept or prevention of thtm. "When at last they did meet, ujjon the call of the gov- 
ernor, at a point where they had previously, in an informal manner, protested against being 
called, with an avowal of their intention to adjourn to the point at which thev are now as- 
sembled, for the reasons that the requisite accommodations could not be had; where there 
were no lacilities for communication with their families or constituents; where they could not 
even find the commonest food to eat, unless at an enormous expense, there being no gardens 
yet made )iy the squatters: where the house in which we were expected to assemble had no 
roof or floor on the Saturday preceding the Monday of our assembling, and for the completion 
of which th.' entire Sabbath day and night was desecrated by the continual labor of the me- 
chanics : wii.re, at least, one-half of the members, employees, and almost all others vAio had 
assembled t!)ere for business or otherwise, had to camp out in wagons and tents during a 
rainy, hot season, and where cholera broke out, as a consequence of the inadequate food and 
shelter ;_ and when, under all of these circumstances of annoyance, they finally passed an act 
adjourning to this point, Shawnee manual-labor school, where ample accommodations are 
provided, and where the governor himself had previously made it the seat of government 
the}- were met by his veto, which is herewith transmitted.'" ' 

Your committee have not considered it any part of their duty to examine and 
review each enactment and provision of the large volume ct law's adopted by the 
legislature of Kansas upon almost every rightful subject of k-oislation, and afi^cting 
nearly every relation and interest in life, with a view eitli. :■ to their approval or 
disapproval by Congre.ss, for the reason that they are locrJ laws, confined in their 
operation to the internal concerns of the Territory, the fo- i rol and management of 
which, by the principles of the federal constitution, as we!! as by the very terms of 
the Kansas Nebraska act, are confided to the people cf 'lie Territory, to be deter- 
mined by themselves through their representatives in rheir local le^-islature, and 
not by the Congress, in which they have no represertatives, to give or withhold 
their assent to the laws upon which their rights :i ,! liberties may all depend. 
Under these laws marriages have taken place, children have been born, deaths have 
occurred, estates have been distributed, contracts have been made, and nVhts have 
accrued which it is not competent for Congress to divest. If there can be a doubt 
in respect to the validity of these laws, growing out of the alleged irregularity of 
the election of the members of the legislature, or the lawfulness of the place where 
-its sessions were held, which it is competent for any tribunal to inquire into, with a 
view to its decision at this day, and after the series of events which have ensued, it 
must be a judicial question, over which Congress can have no control, and which 
can be determined only by the courts of justice, under the protection and sanction 
of the constitution. 

When it was proposed in the last Congress to annul the acts of the leo-islative 
assembly of Minnesota, incorporating certain railroad companies, this committee 
reported against the proposition, and, instead of annulling the local legislation of 
the Territory, recommended the repeal of that clause of the organic act" of Miime- 
sota which reserves to Congress the right to disapprove its laws. That recom- 



18 AFFAIRS OF KANSAS. 

mendation was based on the theory that,jthe people of the Territory, being citizens 
of the United States, were entitled to tlie pi'ivilege of self-government in obedience 
to the constitution; and if, in the exercise of this right, they had raade wise and 
just laws, they ought to be permitted to enjoy all the advantages resulting from 
thern; while, on the contrary, if they had made unwise and unjust laws, they 
should abide the consequences of their own acts until they discovered, acknow- 
ledged, and corrected their errors. 

It has been alle2:ed that gross misrepresentations have been made in respect to 
the character of the laws enacted by the legislature of Kansas, calculated, if not 
designed, to prejudice the public mind at a distance against those who enacted 
them, and to create the impression that it was the duty of Congress to interfere 
and annul them. In view of the violent and insurrectionary measures which were 
bein.c- taken to resist the laws of the Territory, a convention of delegates, repre- 
senting almost every portion of the Territory of Kansas, was held at the city of 
Leavenworth on the 14lh of November, 1855, at which men of all shades of po- 
litical opinions, "Whigs, Democrats, Pro-slavery men, and Free-state men, all met 
and harmonized together, and forgot their former diflerences in the common dan- 
o-er that seemed to threaten the peace, good order, and prosperity of this_ commu- 
nity " This convention was presided over by the governor of the Territory, as- 
sisted by a majority of the judges of the supreme court; and the address to the 
citizens of the United States, among other distinguished names, bears the signa- 
tures of the United Slates district attorney and marshal for the Territory. 

It is but reasonable to assume that the interpretation which these functionaries 
have given to the acts of the Kansas legislature in this address will be observed in 
their ^official exposition and execution of the same. In reference to the wide- 
spread perversions and misrepresentations of those laws, this address says : 

" The laws passed bv the legislature have been most grossly misrepresented, with the view 
of prciiidicing the public against that body, and as an excuse for the revolutionary move- 
ments in this Territory. The limits of this address will not permit a correction ot all these 
misrepresentations; but we will notice some of them that have had the most wide-spread cir- 

''"''''it°h°as been charged and widely circulated that the legislature, in order to perpetuate their 
rule had passed a law prescribing the qualification of voters, by which it is declared that 
•mv'one may vote who will swear allegiance to the fugitive slave law, the Kansas and iNe- 
braska bill, and pay one dollar.' Such is declared to be the evidence ot citizenship sudi the 
qualification of voiers. In reply to this, we say that no such law was ever passed by the e- 
iislature. The law prescribing the qualification of voters expressly provides that, to entitle 
a person to vote, he must be twenty-one years of age, an actua inhabitan ^^ this Territory, 
and of the county or district in which he oifers to vote, and shall have paid a Territoual tax. 
There is no law requiring him to pay a dollar-tax as a qualification to A-ote. He must pay a 
tax U is true (and this Is by no means an unusual requirement in the States ; but whether 
his tax is levied on his persoJial or real property, his money at interest or as a pol -ta.x, makes 
no difference; the payment of any Territorial tax entitles the person o vote, prov ded he ha. 
?he other ciiilica/ions provided by law. The act seems to be carefully drawn ;v.Ui he view 
of excludin- all illegal and foreign votes. The voter must be an inhabitant o the leu to v, 
and the county o'r district in which he offers to vote, and he must l';\ve paid a Temtorm 
tax The judges aud clerks are required to be sworn, and to keep duplicate poll-boxes and 
ample provision is made for contesting elections, and purging the polls ot all lUega vote. t 
niffiJult to see how a more guarded law could be framed, for the purpose of .pro ect.ng the 
pur ty of elections and the sanctity of the ballot-box. The law doe. "^t require the- voter to 
swea? to support the fugitive slave law or the Kansas and Nebr.aska bill un ess he is cha^ 
len-cd; in that case, he is required to take an oath to support each ot these 1^^ ,^- . ^^. ° /f. 
dollar aw, (so called,) it is merely a poll-tax, and has no more connexion ^^^^J^^f .'"^^t «f 
sulfrage th'un any other tax levied by Ibc Territorial authority, and .3 to be paid a ^'^^'^^l 
party votes or not. It is a mere temporary measure, having no torce beyond this yeai, and 
ras^i-rsorted to as such to supply the Territorial treasury with the necessary means to carry 

'"'hhSo been charged against the legislature that they elected all of the officers of the 
Territory for six years. This is without any foundation. They elected no ofhcer for six 
yea and the on y civil officers they retain \he election of, that occurs to us ^^ J'reBent, are 
h auditor and treasurer of state, and the district attorneys, who hold tjeir olhc^ or tou 
and not six years. By the organic act, the commissions issued V/."^,^ g«^^'^"?,;^^;i;^J; ^Yl 
officers of the Territory all expired on the adjournment of the legislature. To prevent a tail 



AFFAIRS OF KANSAS. 19 

ure in the local administration, and from necessity, tbe leoislature made a number of tempo- 
rary appointments, such as probate judge, and two county commissioners, and a sheriff of 
each county. The probate judge and county commissioners constitute the tribunal for the 
transaction of county business, and are invested with the power to appoint justices of the 
peace, constables, county surveyor, recorder, and clerk, &c. Probate judges, county commis- 
sioners, shenfls, &c., are all temporary appointments, and are made elective by the people at 
the first annual election in 1857. The legislature could not have avoided meeting some tem- 
porary appointments. No elecUon could have been held without them. There were no 
judges, justices of the peace, or other officers to conduct an election of any kind, until ap. 
pointed by the legislature. It was the exercise of a power which the first legislative assembly 
m every Territory must, of necessity, exercise, in order to put the local government in motion 
We see nothing in this to justify revolution or a resort to force. The law for the protection 
ot slave property has also been much misunderstood. The right to pass such a law is ex- 
pressly stated by Governor Reederin his inaugural message, in which he says: 'A Territorial 
legislature may undoubtedly act upon the question to a limited and partial extent, and may 
temporarily prohibit, tolerate, or regulate slavery in the Territory, and in an absolute or 
modified form, with all the force and effect of any other legislative act, binding until repealed 
by the same power that enacted it' There is nothing in the act itself, as has been charged to 
prevent a free discussion of the subject of slavery. Its bearing on society, its morality or ex- 
pediency, or whether it would be politic or impolitic to make this a elave State, can be dis- 
cussed here as freely as in any State in this Union, without infringing any of the provisions 
of the law. To deny the right of a person to hold slaves under the law in this Territory i« 
made penal ; but beyond this, there is no restriction to the discussion of the slavery question 
in any aspect in which it is capable of being considered. We do not wish to be understood 
09 approving of all the laws passed by the legislature; on the contrary, we would state that 
there are some that we do not approve of, and which are condemned by public opinion here, 
and which will no doubt be repealed or modified at the meeting of the next legislature. But 
this IS nothing more than what frequently occurs, both in the legislation of Cono-ress and of the 
various btate legislatures. The remedy for such evils is to be found in public opinion,, to which 
sooner or later, in a government like ours, all laws must conform." ' 

A few days after Governor Reeder dissolved his ofBcial relations with the legis- 
lature, on accoiint of the removal of the seat of government, and while that body 
was still in session, a meeting was called by '' many voters," to assemble at Lau- 
rence on the 14th or 15th of August, 1855, "to take into consideration the pro- 
priety of calling a Territorial convention, preliminary to the formation of a State 
government, and other subjects of public interest." At that meeting the follow- 
ing preamble and resolutions were adopted with but one dissenting voice : 

" Whereas the people of Kansas Territory have been since its settlement, and now are, with- 
out any law-making power : therefore, 

" Be it resolved, That we, the people of Kansas Territory, in mass meeting assembled, irre- 
spective of party distinctions, influenced by a common necessity, and greatly desirous of pro- 
moting the common good, do hereby call upon and request all bona-fide citizens of Kansas 
Territory, of whatever political views or predilections, to consult together in their respective 
election districts, and, in mass convention or otherwise, elect three delegates for each repre- 
sentative of the legislative assembly, by proclamation of Governor Reeder of date 10th March, 
1855; said delegates to assemble in convention at the town of Topeka, on the 19th day of 
September, 1855, then and there to consider and determine upon all subjects of public inter- 
est, and particularly upon that having reference to the speedy formation of a State constitu- 
tion, with an intention of an immediate application to be admitted as a State into the Union 
of the United States of America." 

This meeting, so far as your committee have been able to ascertain, was the first 
step m that series of proceedings which resulted iu the adoption of a constitution 
and State government, to be put in operation on the 4th of the present month, in 
subversion of the Territorial government established under the authority of Con- 
gress. The right to set up the State government in defiance of tlie constituted 
authorities of the Territory, is based on the assumption "that the people of Kan- 
sas Territory have been since its settlement, and now are, without ;aiy law-making 
power ;" in the face of the well-known fact, that the Territorial legislature were 
then in session, in pursuance of the proclamation of Governor Reeder and the 
organiclaw of the Territory. On the 5th of September, a "Territorial delegate 
convention " assembled at the Big Springs " to take into consideration the present 
exigencies of political aflfiiira," at which, among others, the following resolutions 
were adopted : 



20 AFFAIRS OF KANSAS. 

" Resolved, That this convention, in view of its recent repudiation of the acts of the so- 
called Kansas legislative assembI}\respond most heartily to the call made by the people's 
convention of the 14th ultimo, for alJelegate convention of the people of Kansas, to be held at 
Topeka on the 19lh instant, to consider the propriety of the formation of a State constitu- 
tion, and such matters a? may legitimately come before it. 

^'•Resolved That we owe no allegiance or obedience to the tyrannical enactments ot this 
spurious legislature; that their laws have no validity or binding force upon the people of 
Kansas; and that every freeman among us is at full liberty, consistently with his obligations 
as a citizen and a man, to defy and resist them if he choose so to do. , • * 

" Resolved That we will endure and submit to these laws no longer than the best interests 
of the Territory require, as the least of two evils, and will resist them to a bloody issueas 
■soon as we ascertain that peaceable remedies shall fail, and forcible resistance shall furnish 
any reasonable prospect of success ; and that in the meantime we recommend to our friends 
throughout the Territory the organization and discif-line of volunteer companies, and the pro- 
curement and preparation of arms." 

With the view to a distinct understanding of the meaning of so much of this . 
resolution as relates to the " oi-g-anization and discipline of volunteer companies, 
and the procurement and preparation of arms," it may be necessary to state that 
there was at that time existing in the Territory a secret military organization, 
which had been formed for political obiects prior to the alleged invasion, at the 
election on the 30th of March, and which held its first "grand encampment at 
Lawrence, February 8Lh, 1855." Your committee have been put in possession of 
a small printed pamphlet, containing the "constitution and ritual of the grand 
encam])ment and regiments of the "Kansas legion of Kansas Territory, adopted 
April 4th, 1855," which, during the recent disturbances in that Territory, was taken 
on the person of one George AVarren, who attempted to conceal and destroy the 
same by thrusting it into Im mouth, and biting and chewing it. Although sonae- 
what mutilated by the "tooth prints," it bears internal evidence of being a genuine 
document, authenticated by the original signatures of " G. W. Hutchinson, grand 
general," and "J. K. Goodwin, grand quartermaster." On the last page was a 
chartei- of the Kansas legion, authorziing the said George Warren, troin whose 
mouth the document was taken, to form a new regiment, as follows: 

" Charter of the Kansas Legion. 

'■United States of America, ~(^ 
^ Territorij of Kansas. j 

" Know all men by these presents, that we, the Grand Encampment of the Kansas Legion of 
Kansas Territory, have created, chartered, and empowered, and by tliese presents do create, 

charter, and empower George F. Warren to be regiment -, 

No , of the Kansas Legion ; and, as such, they are hereby invested with all and singular 

the autliority and privileges with which each and every regiment is invested, working under 
a charter from the Grand Encampment. 

"In witness whereof, we have hereunto set our hands this sixteenth day ot August, one 
thousand eight hundred and fifty-five. ^^ ^ ^^ HUTCHINSON, 

" Grand General. 
"J. K. GOODWIN, 

" Grand Quartermaster'^ 

The constitution consists of six articles regulating the organization of the " Grand 
Eflcampment," which is " composed of representatives elected from each subordi- 
nate regiment existing in the Teiritory, as hereafter provided. The oflicers ot the 
Grand Encampment shall consist of a Grand General, Grand Vice General, Grand 
Quartermaster, Grand Paymaster, Grand Aid, two Grand Sentinels, and Grand 
Chaplain. 

"The Grand Encampment shall make all nominations for Territorial officers at large, and 
immediately after such nominal ions sliall have been made, the Grand General shall communi- 
cate the result to every regiment in the Territory."' 

The officers of the " Gr.\nd E.xcami'ment" are Grand General Rev. G. W. Hutch- 
inson, Lawrence, K. T. 

Grand Vice-General, C. K. Holliday, Topeka, K. T. 



AFFAIRS OF KANSAS. 21 

Grand Quartermaster, J. K. Goodwin, Lawrence, K. T. 

Grand Paymaster, Obailes Leib, M. D., Leaveaifbrtli city, K. T. 

By "the constitution of the subordinate encampment," "the officers of each 
subordinate regiment shall consist of a colonel, a lieutenant colonel, a quartermas- 
ter, aid, and two sentinels. The regiment located in each and every election dis- 
trict shall make nominations for all candidates for offices in their respective dis- 
tricts; but where there shall be two or more regiments in any one election district, 
of Avhatever kind, these nomimititins shall be made by delegates from the respective 
encampments within said di^tiict." 

The "ritual"' continues the order of business and modes of proceeding in the 
subordinate encampment under the following heads : 

1st. Rea'ling the minutes by ihe quartermaster. 

2d. Proposals f>>r new recruits. 

3d. Voting for same. 

4th. Initiation of recruits. 

."> th. Report s of corarai it(;es. 

6ih. Unfinished business appearing on the minutes. 

7th. Mi.«cellaneou5 business. 

8th. Adjournment. 

The "opening ceremony" of the subordinate encampments is as follows : 

"Tbe colonel, lieutenant-colonel, quartermaster, paymaster, aid, and sentinels, being in their 
respective places, the regiment shall be called and tlius addressed by the colonel: 

" Colonel. Fellow-soidiers in the fiee-State army; The hour has arrived when we must re- 
siime the duties devolving upon us. Let us each, with a heart devoted to justice, patriotism, and 
liberty, attend closely to all the regulations laid down for our government and action ; each 
laboring to make this review pleasant and profitable to ourselves, and a blessing to our coun- 
try. Aid, are the sentinels at their posts, with closed doors V 

" Aid. They are. 

" Colonel. Aid, you will now review the troops in the regiment's passwords. 

^^ Aid. (After examination.) I have examined them personally, and find each correct. 

"Colonel. I pronounce this regiment arrayed and ready for service." 

Then follow the process of initiating new reci'uits, who are properly vouched for 
by members of the order, the preliminary obligations to observe secrecy, the cate- 
chism to which the candidate is subjected, and the explanations of the colonel in 
respect to the objects of the order, which aie thus stated : 

"First, to secure to Kansas the blessing and prosperity of being a free State; and, secondly 
to protect the ballot-box from the leprous touch of unprincipled men." 

These and all other questions being satisfactorily answered, the final oath is thus 
administered : 

" With these explanations upon our part, we shall ask of you that you take with us an obli- 
gation placing yourself in the same attitude as before. 

" OBLIGATION. 

" Ij .: , in the most solemn manner, here, in the presence of Heaven and these 

witnesses, bind myself that 1 will never reveal, nor cause to be revealed, either by word, look, 
or sign, by writing, printing, engraving, painting, or in any manner whatsoever, anything per- 
taining to this institution, save to persons duly qualified to receive the same. 1 will never re- 
veal the nature of the organization, the place of meeting, the fact that any person is a mem- 
ber of the same, or even the existence of the organization, cxcejit to persons legally qualified 
to receive the same. Should 1 at any time withdraw, or be suspended or expelled from this 
organization, I will keep this obligation to the end of life. If auy books, papers, or moneys 
belonging to this organization be intrusted to my care or keeping, I will faithfully and coia- 
pletely deliver up the same to my successor in office, or auy one legally authorized to receive 
them." I will never knowingly propose a person tor membership in this oider who is not in 
favor of making Kansas a free Slate, and whom I feel satisfied will exert his entire influence 
to bring aboutlhis result. I will support, maintain, and abide by auy honorable movement 
made by the organization to secure this great end, which will not conflict with the laws oi 
the country and the constitution of the United States. I will unflinchingly vote for and sup- 
port the candidates nominated by this organization in preference to any and all others. 



22 AFFAIRS OF KANSAS. 

" To all of this obligatiou I do most solemnly jjromise and affirm, binding myself under the 
penalty of being expelled from this organization, of having my name published to the several 
Territorial encampments as a perjurer before Heaven and a traitor to my country, of passing 
through life scorned and reviled by man, frowned on by devils, forsaken by angels, and aban- 
doned by God." 

The '■ closing ceremony" is as follovvs : 

'^ [Colonel.^ Fellow-soldiers: I trust this review has been both pleasant and profitable to 
all. We met as friends; let us part as brothers, remembering that we seek no wrong to any; 
and our bond of union in battling for the right must tend to make us better mtn, better neiglv- 
bora, and better citizens. We than^ you for your kindness and attention, and invite you all 

to be present at our next review, to be holden at , on — ■ next, at o'clock 

p. m. Sentinels, you will open the doors, that our soldiers may retire pleasantly aud in order." 

Your committpe have deemed it important to give this otttline of the "constitu- 
tion and ritual of the grand enr-ampmenl and regiments of the Kansas legion," as 
constituting the secret organization, political and military, in obedience to which 
tile public demonstrations have been made to subvert the authority of the Terri- 
torial government established by Congress, by setting up a State government, eithet 
with or without the assent of Congress, as circumstances should determine. The 
endorsement of this militarj' organization, and the recommendation by the Big 
Springs convention for "the procurement and preparation of arms," accompatiied 
with the distinct declaration that we '•will resist them [the laws enacted by the 
Kansas legislature] to a bloody issue, as soon as we ascertain that peaceable reme- 
dies shall fail, and forcible resistance shall furnish any reasonable prospect of suc- 
cess," would seem to admit of no other inter[)retHtion than that, in the event that 
the courts of justice shall sustain the validity of those lavps, and Congress shall 
refuse to admit Kansas as a State with the constitution to be formed at Topek^ 
they will set up an indepi^ndent government in defiance of the federal authority. 

The same purpose is clearl}' indicated by the other proceedings of this conven- 
tion, in which it is declared that "we with scorn repudiate the election law, so 
called," and they nominate Governor Reederfor Congress, to be voted for on a differ- 
ent day from that authorized by law, at an election to be held by jud^'es and clerks 
not appointed in pursuance of any legal authority, and not to be sworn by any 
person authorized by law to administer oaths ; and the returns to be made, and 
result proclaimed, and certificate granted, in a mode and by persons not permitted 
to perform these acts by any law, in dr out of the Territoi'y. 

In accepting the nomination, Governor Reeder addressed the convention as fol- 
lows ; and among other things, said : 

" In giving him this nomination in this manner, they had strengthened his arms to do their 
work, and, in return, he would now pledge to them a steady, unflinching, pertinacity of 
purpose, never-tiring industry, dogged perseverance, and, in all the abiJides with which God 
had endowed him, to the righting of their wrongs, and the final triumph of their cause, lie 
believed, from the circumstances which had for the last eight months surrounded liim, and 
which at the same time placed in his possession many facts, and bound him, heart and soul, 
to the oppressed voters of Kansas, that he could do much towards obtaining a redress of their 
grievances. 

" He said that, day by day, a crisis was coming upon us ; that, in after-times, this ivould be 
to posterity a turning-point, a marked period, as are to us the opening of the Revolution, the 
adoption of the Declaration of Independence, and the era of the alien and sedition laws ; that 
we should take each carefullj', so that each be a step of progress, and so that no violence be 
done to the tie which binds the American people together. He alluded to the unprecedented 
tyranny under which we are and have been ; and said that, if any one supposed that institu- 
tions were to be imjiosed l)y force upon a free and enlightened people, they never knew, or 
had forgotten, the history of our fathers. American citizens bear in their breasts too much 
of the spirit of other and trying days, and have lived too long amid the blessings of liberty to 
submit to oppression from any quarter ; and the man who, having once been free, could tamely 
submit to tyranny, was fit to be a slave. 

" lie urged the Free-State men of Kansas to forget all minor issues, and pursue determinedly 
the one great object, never swerving, but steadily pressing on, as did the wise men who fol- 
lowed tlie star to the manger, looking back only for fresh encouragement. lie counselled 
that peaceful resistance be made to the tyrannical and unjust laws of the spurious legislature ; 
that appeals to the courts, to the ballot-bos, and to Congress, be made for relief from this op- 



AFFAIRS OF KANSAS. 23 

pressive load; that violence should be deprecated as long as a sinjrle hope of peaceable redress 
remained ; but if, at last, all these should fail — if iti the proper tribunals, there is no hope for 
our dearest rights, outraged and profaned — if we are still to suffer, that corrupt men may 
reap harvests watered by our tears — then there is one more chance for justice. God has pro- 
A'ided, in the eternal frame of things, redress for every wrong ; and there remains to us still 
the steady eye and the strong arm, and we must conquer, or mingle the bodies of the oppres- 
sors with those of the oppressed upon the soil which the Declaration of Independence no longer 
protects. But he was not at all apprehensive that such a crisis Avould ever arrive. He be- 
lieved that justice might be found far short of so dreadful an extremity ; and, even should an 
appeal to arms come, it was his opinion, that if we are well preparj^d, that moment the victory 
is won." 

In pursuance of the recommendation of the mass mec-ling- nold at Lawrence on 
the 14th of x\uoust, and endoised by tlie convention held at ilic Big Spriitgs on the 
5th aiid 6th of September, a convention was held at Topeka on the 19th and 20th 
of" September, at whitth it was determined to hold another convention at the same 
place uu the fonrth Tuesday of October, foi' the purpose of forming a constitution 
and Siate governmi^nt ; and to this end such jnoceeVlings were had as were deemed 
necessary fur giving the notices conducting the election of delegates, making the 
returiiS, and assembiing the convenii'.'n. With regara to the regularity of these 
prooidings, your cominittee see no necessity fur further criticism other than is to 
be fuund in the fact that it was the movement of a political party instead of the 
whole body of the people of Kansas, conductid. without the sanction of law, and in 
defiance of the constituii-'d authorities, for the avowed purpose of overthrowing the 
Territorial gov-ernment established by Congress. 

The constitutional convention met at Topeka on the fuiu'th Tuesday of October, 
and organized by ekcting Colonel J. H Lane president, who, in returning his 
acknowledgements for the honor, repudiated the validity of the Territoiial legisla- 
ture and its acts in these words: 

'• Gentlemen of the convention: For the position assigned me, accept my thanks. You have 
met, gentlemen, on no ordinaiy occasion, to accomplish no ordinary jjurpose. You are the 
first legal representatives the real settlers of Kansas have ever had. You comprise the first 
legally elected representative body ever assembled in the Territory.'' &c. 

"/>;■(/('»/, October 26. — Mr. Smith oii'ered the following resolution, instructing the standing 
committees : 

" Beiolred, That the various committees of this convention be, and they are hereby, in- 
structed to frame their work, having in view an immediate organization of a State government." 

•• October 30. — In the evening session the debates ran high ujion Mr. Smith's resolution in 
reference to an immediate State organization. The mover of the resolution was in favor of 
electing State officers at once. He would advise no hesitation ; he would present a bold front, 
and waver not at all. The Territory was without laws; life and property were unprotected. 
The Territorial government had broken down. He would not leave it an hour for the action 
of Congress after an application for admission, but would set up an independent form of gov- 
ernment," &c. 

Mr. Emery said: "Now, Mr. Chairman, what does this resolution contemplate? What is 
proposed to be done? It first proposes to supersede the present weak and inefficient Territo- 
rial government, and hence it enunciates the fundamental idea of the consti.tutional movement. 
A3", it does more. It proposes to prove into a fact the leading idea of the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, the highest human authority in American politics,* which is this : whenever any form 
of government becomes destructive of the ends for wliich it was instituted, it is the right of 
the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute a new government. It proposes to force 
theories of human rights into facts, to practically apply this great piincii)Ie to the wants and 
the necessities of the down-trodden people of Kansas. I do not q\iestion this right of the, 
people, and certainly no gentleuian on this lloor will disagree with me. If he does, he occu- 
pies a most extraordinary position, and consistency Avould suggest that he withdraw from this 
body. No, when we say that we will take measures to supersede and render unnecessary that 
ihiriij now extended over us called a Territorial government — when we say and maintain that 
we have a right, guarantied by the constitution, to have a form of government resting on 
our own consent and free will, we are doing what, as American citizens, we have a right to 
do ; ^ye only propose to carry out the doctrine, much abused and grossly misrepresented as it 
has been — I mean the doctrine of squatter sovereignly, under which w'eare assembled here to- 
day, and in pursuance of the principles of which we hope to extricate ourselves from our pres- 
ent unhappy condition." 

It is but just to state, that, in another part of this same speech, Mr. Emery de- 
clared himself opposed to au immediate election " under the new constitution, and 



24 AFFAIRS OF KANSAS. 

an immediate session of the general assembl}', when all the wheels of State gov- 
ernment shall be put in motion, irrespective of the action of Congress, upon 
due application for admission. Mr. E. presented his objections to the position 
of Mr. vSmith, and maintained the views above indicated. lie contended that, in- 
asmuch as the 'lerrTtorial form of government was recognised by the Supreme 
Court of the United Stat,e?, and hence a legal form of government, no other gov- 
ernment could be substittitcd so long as that was in existence, without risking the 
most serious consequence^, to say the least." 

In reply to the advocates of immediate State organization, Mr Delahay, of 
Leavenworth, said : 

"Under the defined rights of squatter sovercignt}', as cnumuited by the Kansas-Nebraska 
act, it seems reasonable that the people have the right to take upon themselves the burdens of 
a government; but I question the right of the people of Kansas to organize a new govern- 
ment created by Congress. The gentleman from Lawrence [Colonel Lnne] has assumed as a 
fundamental position, in advocating an immediate State organization, that neither govern- 
ment nor local law exists in this Territory'. Sir, I must dissent from that position. I deny, 
Mr. Chairman, that a Territorial government can be legallj-- abolished by the election of 
another government. I hold, on the contrary, and I think that my position v.ould be sup- 
ported by our highest legal authorities, that the power of a Territorial government ceases only 
by the enactment of the body which created it; in other words, that the government and laws 
of Kansas can be abolished by Congress alone, and are beyond the reach of this Territory, or any 
other power. I do not pretend to deny that, as all civil power is derived from the people, they 
have the moral right to abolish unjust laws, or to overthrow obno.xious governments by force: 
but I do question the expediency' of effecting a reform in Kansas by any overt act of rebellion. 
For I must confess, Mr. Chairman, while I cast not the shadow of suspicion on the motives of 
the adv^)cates of this measure, that from the point of view from which I regard this question, 
it appears to me to be an act of rebellion." 

Your committee h-.v e made these voluminous extracts from th.' best authenti- 
cated reports which'i';-^y have- been able to obtain or the proceedings of the con- 
vention, for^the purj)'isi' uf showing that it was distinctly underst:)od on all sides 
that the adoption of '':e proposition for organizing the State government before the 
assent of Congress fui- the admission of the StfUe should be obtained, was a de- 
cision in favor of re})udialing the laws and overthrowing the Territorial govern- 
ment, in defiance of tiie authority of Congress. By this decision, as incorporated 
into tjie schedule to tiie constitution, the vote on the ratification to the constitution 
was to be held on i;ie 15th of December, 185.5, and riie election for all State 
officers on the third Tuesday of January, 1856. The third section of the schedule 
i.s as follows : 

"The general assembly shall meet on the 4th day of March, A. D. 185G, at the city of To- 
peka, at 12 m., at which time and place the governor, lieutenant-governor, secretary of state, 
judges of supreme court, treasurer, auditor. State printer, reporter and clerk of supreme court, 
and attorney general, shall appear, take the oath of office, and enter upon tlie discharge of the 
duties of their respective offices under this constitution; and shall continue in office in the 
same manner, and during the same period, the}' would have done had they been elected on 
the/first Monday of August, A. D. 1836."' 

The elections for all these officeis were held at the times specified; and on the 
fourth day of the present month the new government wa> to have been put in opera- 
tion, in conflict with the Teriitorial government established by Congress, and for 
the' avowed purpose of subverting and overthrowing the same, without reference to 
the action of Congress upon their application for admi^-sion into the Union. 

Your committee arc not aware of any case in the history of our own country 
•which can be fairly cited as an example, much less a justification, for these extra- 
ordinary proceedings. Cases have occurred in wliich the itihabitants of particular 
Territories have been permitted to form constitutions, and take the initiatory steps 
for the organization of State governments, preparatory to their admission into the 
Union, without obtaining the previous assent of Congress; but in every instance 

TUE PUOCEEDINO HAS OUIGINATED WITH, AND UEEN CONDUCTED IN SUBORDINATION TO, 
TOE AUTIIOarfY OF THl'. LOCAL GOVERNMSNTS ESTAliLISIIED OR RECOGNISED BY THE 

aovERNMENr ov THE Uniteo States. Michigan, Arkansas, Florida, and California, 



AFFAIRS OF KANSAS. 25 

are sometimes cited as cases in point. Michigan was erected into a Territory in pur- 
suance of the ordinance of the 13th of July, 1787, as recognised and carried into 
etfect by acts of Congress subsequent to the adoption of the federal constitution. In 
tliat ordinance it was provided that the Territory northwest of the Ohio river should 
be divided into not less than three nor more than five States; ■'•and whenever any of 
said States shall have sixty thousand free inhabitants therein, such State shall be 
admitted, by its delegates, into the Congress of the United States, on an equal 
footing with the original States in all respects whatt'ver,'^and shall be at liberty to 
form a permanent constitution and State government." 

In pursuance of this pi'ovisiou of their organic la a, the legislature of the Terri- 
tory of Michigan passed an act providing for a conv' nfion of the people to form a 
constitution and State government, which was accoi'li^i^ly done in obedience to 
the laws and constituted authorities of the Teiritory. The legislature of the Terri- 
tory of Arkansas, having ascertaitied by a census t!,at the Territory contained 
about fifty-one thousand eight hundred inhabirants. at a time when the ratio of rep- 
resentation in Congress awarded one representati\c to each forty-seven thousand 
seven handi-ed inhabitants, passed an act authoiizing the people to form a consti- 
tution and ask for admission into the Union, as they suppo'^ed they Lad a right to 
do under the treaty acquiring the territory from France, v/hich guarantied their 
admission as soon as may be consistent with the federal constitution. Upon this 
point your committee adopt the legal opinion of the Attorney General of the 
United States, (B. F. Butler,) as expressed in the following extract : 

"But I am not prepared to say that all proceedings on this subject, on the part of Jhe cit- 
zens of Arkansas, will be illegal. They undoubtedly possess the ordinary privileges and im- 
munities of citizens of the United States. Among these, is the right to assemble and to peti- 
tion the government for the redress of grievances; in the exercise of this right, the inhabitants 
of Arkansas may peaceably meet together in primary assemblies, or in conventions chosen by- 
such assemblieSj'for the purpose of petitioning Congress to abrogate the Territorial govern- 
ment, and to admit them into the Union as an independent State. The particular form which 
they may give to their petition cannot be material, so long as they confine themselves to the 
mere right of petitioning, and conduct all their proceedings in a peaceable manner. And as 
the power of Congress over the whole subject is plenary and unlimited, they may accept any 
constitution, however framed, which in their judgment meets the sense of the people to be 
affected by it. If, therefore, the citizens of ^Arkansas think proper to accompany their petition 
with a written constitution, framed and agreed on by their primary assemblies, or by a con- 
vention of delegates chosen by such assemblies, I perceive no legal objection to their power to 
do so, nor to any measures which may be taken to collect the sense of the people in respect to 
it ; provided, always, that such measures be commenced and prosecuted in a peaceable naanner, 
in strict subordination to the existing Territorial government, and in entire subserviency to 
the power of Congress to adopt, reject, or disregard them, at their pleasure. 

"It is, however, very obvious, that all measures commenced and prosecuted with a design 
to subvert the Territorial government, and to establish and put in force in its place anew 
government, without the consent of Congress, will be unlawful. The laws establishing the 
Territorial government must continue in force until abrogated by Congress ; and, in the mean- 
time, it will be the duty of the governor, and of all the Territorial officers, as well as of the 
President, to take care that they arc faithfully executed."' 

On the 11th day of January, 1839, a committee of the constitutional convention 
of Florida addressed a )nemorial to Congress, in which they state that in 1837 the 
Territorial council passed a law submitting to the people the question of " State'' or 
"Territory," to be decided at the election of delegate to Congress in the month of 
May of that year ; that a decided majority of the suffrages given at that election 
was in favor of "State;" that the legislative council of 1838, in obedience to the 
expressed wishes of the people, enacted a law authorizing the holding of a con- 
vention to form and adopt a State constitution; that the convention assembled on 
the 3d of December, 1838, and continued in session until the 11th of January, 
183;>: and that, on behalf of the people of Florida, they transmit the "constitu- 
tion, or form of government," and ask for admission into, the Union. It is also 
stated in the memorial that in 1838 a census of the Territory was taken, in obe- 
dience to a law passed by the Territorial council, and that this census, although 
taken durin<r the ravages of Indian hostilities, when a large portion of the inhab- 



26 AFFAIRS OF KANSAS. 

itants could n6t be found at home, showed an aggregate population of forty-eip-ht 
thousand two hundred and twenty-three persons, which the memorialists insisted 
furnished satisfactory assurance of a sufficient population to entitle them to ad- 
mission, according to tlie treaty acquiring the country from Spain, and the then 
ratio of representation, .which awarded a member of Congress to each 47,700 
inhabitants. Congress failing to yield its assent to the admission of Florida for 
more than six yeai'saftA this constitution was formed and application made, the peo- 
ple of Florida during all ifliat period remained loyal to the Territorial government and 
obedient to its laws, and did not assume the right to supersede the existing govern- 
ment by putting into operation a State government until the assent of Conijre.ss was 
obtained in 1845. 

The circumstances connected with the formation of the constitution and State 
government of California are peculiar. During the Mexican war the country was 
conquered and occupied by our troops, and the civil government was administered 
by the military authorities under the war power. According to an official cx)nimuni- 
cation of General Persifor F. Smith, acting governor of California, to a committee 
of citizens of San Ff-iancisco, under date of Marc^ •^7, 1849, withholding his " recog- 
nition and coneuvrencfc" in their proposition ''(;» organize a legislative a'=s':'mbly, 
and to appoint judges and other ministerial officers, and to enact suitable laws to 
establish principles of justice and equity, and to giv^rotection to life, liberty, and 
property," it appears that the President of the Uhitcd States (Mr. Polk) and 
his cabinet officially jv'omulgated the following opinions as the decision of the 
Executive on the'iioints stated : 

1st. That at the conclusion of the treaty with Mexico, on the ^Oth of Mav, 1848, 
the military government existing in California was a government de facto. 

2d. That it, of necessity, continue until Congress provide another; because, if it 
cease, anarchy must ensue : thus inferring that no power but Congress can estab- 
lish any government. 

It also appears, from the proclamation of General Kiley, acting governor, to the 
people of California, dated June 3d, 1849, that a government de facto was consti- 
tuted as follows : 

"A brief summary of the organization of the present government may not lie uninteresting. 
It consists — First, of a governor appointed by the supreme government; in default of sucli 
appointment, the office is temporarily vested in the commanding military officer of the depart- 
ment. The powers and duties of the governor are of a limited character, but fully defined 
and pointed out by the laws. Second, a secretary, whose duties and powers are also properly 
defined. Third, a territorial or departmental legislature, with limited powers to pass laws of 
a local character. Fourth, a superior court (tribunal superior) of the Territory, consisting of 
four judges and a fiscal. Fifth, a prefect and sub-prefects for each district, who are charged 
with the preservation of the public order and the execution of the laws; their duties corres- 
pond, in ;i great measure, with those of district marshals and sheriffs. Sixth, a judge of first 
instance, for each district. This office is, by a custom not inconsistent with the laws, vested 
in the first alcalde of the district. Seventh, alcaldes, who have concurrent jurisdiction among 
themselves in the same district, but are subordinate to the higher judicial tribunals. Eighth, 
local justices of the peace. Ninth, ayuntamieutos, or town councils. The powers and func- 
tions of all these officers are fully defined in the laws of the country, and are almost identical 
with those of the corresponding officers in the Atlantic and Western States." 

On the 3d of April, 1849, President Taylor appointed Thomas Butler King agent, 
for the purpose of conveying important instructions to our military and naval com- 
manders who were intrusted with the administration of the civil government de 
facto in California, and to make known to the people his opinions and wishes in 
respect/ to the formation of a constitution and State government preparatory to 
their admission into the Union. What these opinions and wishes were, are dis- 
tinctly stated by the President in the following extract from his special message 
to Congress on the 23d of "^ January, 1850 : 

" 1 did not hesitate to express to the people of those Territories my desire that each Terri- 
tory should, if prepared to comply with tho requisitions of the constitution of the United 
States, form a plan of a State constitution, and submit the same to Congress, with a prayer 
for admission into the Union as a State; but 1 did not anticipate, suggest, or authorize the 



AFFAIRS OF KANSAS. 2i 

establishment of any such gorernment without the assent of Congress; nor did I authorize 
any government agent or olficer to interfere with or exercise any influence or control over the 
election of delegates, or over any convention, in making or modifying their domestic institu- 
tions, or any of the provisions of their proposed constitution. On the contrary, the instruc- 
tions by my orders were, that all measures of domestic policy adopted by the people of Cali- 
fornia must originate solely with themselves ; that, while the Executive of the United States 
was desirous to protect them in the formation of any government republican in its character, 
to be at the proper time submitted to Congress, yet it was to be diiifinctly understood that the 
plan of such a government must, at the same time, be the result ofr their own deliberate choice, 
and originate with themselves, without the interference of the Executive." 

On the 30th of Jiiue, 1850. (reneral Rile)', in his. capacity as^ civil governor of 
Califoinia, reports to the goveriuneut at Washington that; — 

" On the 3d instant I issued my proclamation to the people of California, defining what was 
understood to be the legal position of affairs here, and pointing ovit the course it was deemed 
advisable , to pursue in order to jirocure a new political organization, better adapted to the 
character and present condition of the country." The course indicated in my proclamation 
will be adopted by the people, almost unanimously; and there is now little or no doubt that 
the convention will meet on the first of September next, and form a State constitution, to be 
submitted to Congress in the early part of the coming session. 

" A few prefer a Territorial organization, but I think a majority will be in favor of a State 
government, so as to avoid all furthei^ditficulties respecting the question of slavery. This 
question will probably be submitted, together with the constitution, to a direct vote of the 
people, in order that the wishes of the people of California may be clearly and fully expressed. 
Of course, the constitution or pla^ of a Territorinl government formed by this convention can 
have no legal force till approved by Congress.'' 

Ou the 12lh clay of October, General Riley, acting governor, issued the followicg 
proclamation : 

" To the People of California. 

" The delegates of the people, assembled in convention, have formed a constitution which is 
now presented for your ratification. The time and manner of voting on this constitution, and 
of holding the first general election, are clearly set forth in the schedule. The whole subject 
is therefore left for j our unbiased and deliberate consideration. " 

" The prefect (or person exercising the functions of that oflSce) of each district will designate 
the places for opening the polls, and give due notice of the election, in accoi'dance with the 
provisions of the constitution and schedule. 

"The people are now called upon to form a government for themselves, and to designate 
such officers as they desire to make and execute the laws. That their choice may be wisely 
made, and that the government so organized may secure the permanent welfare and happi- 
ness of the people of the new State, is the sincere and earnest wish of the present executive, 
who, if the constitution be ratified, will with pleasure surrender his powers to whomsoever the 
people may designate as his successor. 

" Given at Monterey, California, this twelfth day of October, in the year of our Lord eigh- 
teen hundred and forty-nine. 

"B. RILEY, 
" Brevet Brig. Gen. U. S. A , and Governor of California. 

"Official : "H. W. HALLECK, 

" Brevet Captain and Secretary of State." 

These facts and ofiieial papers piove concitisively that the proposition to the 
people of California to hold a convention and organize a State go\ernmeiit oiigin- 
atcd with, and that all the proceedings were had in siiboidinatiou to, the authority 
and supremacy of the existing local governm«-nt of the Territory, under the advice 
and with the approval of the executive g<.vernnnnt of the United States. Hence 
the action of the people of California in forming their consiitiuion and State gov 
ernment, and of Congress in admitting the State into tne Union, cannot be cited, 
with the least show of justice or fairness, in justification or palliation of the revolu- 
tionary movements to siibvert the government which Congress has establi^hed in 
Kansas. 

Nor can the insurgents derive aid or comfort from the position assumed by 
either party to the unfortunatti controvei'sy which aiose in the State of Rhode 
Island a few years ago, when an effort was made to change the oruanic law, and 
.set up a State government in opposition to the one then in existence, under the 
charter granted by Charles the Stcond of England. Those who were engaged in 
that unsuccessful struggle assumed, as fundamental truths in our system of govern- 



28 AFFAIRS OF KANSAS. 

ment, that I^sode klaud was a sovereign State ia all that peitained to her internal 
affairs; that Ae lujjht to changf their organic law wa.^ an essential attribute of 
sovereignty ; t^'at. inasmuch as the charter under which the existing government 
was organized co!itaiae4 no provision fov changing or amending the same, and the 
people ;;ad not citk^afed thai right ti.> the legislature or any other tribunal, it fol- 
lowed, ;is a ma^r df ciJurge, that they had retained it, and weie at liberty to exer- 
cise it iii such 'BM.nrier a»to them should seem wise, just, and proper. 

Without dt^eming ii. neetssary to express any opinion on this occa;^ion in refer- 
ence to the ni{ ifits of that controversy, it ii evident that the principles upon which 
it was conductAl are not involved in the revolutionary struggle now going on in 
Kansas; for the reason, that the sovereignty of a Territory remains in abeyance, 
suspended in the United States, in trust for the jioople, until they shall be admitted 
into the Union as a State. In the meantime ti.-y are entitled to enjoy and exer- 
cise all the piivileges and rights of self-go vernmem, in subordination to the consti- 
tution of the United States, and in obedience to Lit»-ir organic law pat^sed by Con- 
gress in pursuance of that instrument. These rigiifs and privileges are all derived 
from the constitution through the act of Coogrts^ and must be exercised and 
enjoyed in subjection to ail the limitations and feStri<!ious which that constitution 
imposes. Hence, it is char that the people of*^th'- Territory have no inherent 
sovereign right imder the constitution of the United States to annul the laws and 
resist the authority of the Territorial government which Congress has established 
in obedience to the constitution. 

In tracing, step by step, the origin and history of these Kansas difficulties, your 
committee have be&p; profoundly impressed with the significant fact, that each one 
has resulted from an attempt to violate or circumvent the principles and provisions 
of the act of Congress for the organization of Kansas and Nebraska. The leading 
idea and fupdameJt'Vl principle of the Kansas-Nebraska act, as expressed in the law 
itself, was tQ leave the actual settlers and bona fide inhabitants of each Territory 
"'■ 'perfectly free in form, and regulate their domestic institutions in their oicn way, 
subject only to thticonstitution of the United States.'''' While this is declared to be 
"the true intent ^d meaning of the act," those who were opposed to allowing the 
people of the Territory, preparatory to their admission into the Union as a State, 
to decide the slavery question for themselves, failing to accomplish their purpose in 
the halls of Congress, and under the authority of the constitution, immediately re- 
sorted in their respective States to unusual and extraordinary means to control the 
political destinies and shape the domestic institutions of Kansas, in defiance of the 
wishes and regardless of the rights of the people of that Territory as guarantied by 
their organic Taw. Combinations in one section of the Union to stimulate an un- 
natural and false system of emigration, with the view of controlling the elections, 
and forcing the domestic institutions of the Territory to assimilate to those of the 
non-slaveholding States, were followed, as might have been foreseen, by the use of 
similar means, in the slaveholding States, to produce directly the opposite result. 
To these causes, and to t!iese alone, in the opinion of your committee, may be 
traced the origin and progress of all the controversies and disturbances with which 
Kansas is now convuhed, ^ 

If these unfortunate troubles have resulted as natural consequences from un- 
authorized and improper schemes of foreign intetference with the internal affairs 
and domestic concerns of the Territory, it is apparent that the remedy must be 
sought in a sti-ict adheren<'e to the principles, and rigid enforcement of the pro- 
visions, of the organic law. In this connexion your committee feel sincere satis- 
faction in commending the me?^sages and proclamation of the President of the 
United States, in which we have the gratifying assuiance that the supremacy of the 
laws will be maintaineJ ; that rebellion will be ci ushed ; that insurrection will be 
suppressed; that aggressive intrusion for the purpo>e of deciding elections, or any 
other purpose, will be repelled; that unauthorized intermeddling in the local con- 



AFFAIRS OF KANSAS. 29 

cerns of the Territory, both from adjoining and distant StattSj will -'^e prevented; 
that the federal and local laws will be vindicated a(>-ainst all atteinji^ of organized 
resistance; and that the people 'f the Territory will be |)rotected iA-the establish- 
ment of tlieir own institutions, luidisturbed by encroachraen,ts from 'without, and in 
the full enjoyment of the rights of self government assured to'them by the consti- 
tution and the organic law. 

In view of these assurances, given under the conviction that tj|e existing laws 
confer all the authority necessary to the performance of these important duties, 
and that the whole available foJce of the United States will be exerted to the extent 
required for their performance, your committee repose in entire confidence that 
peace, and security, and law will prevail in Kansas. If any further evidence were 
necessary to prove that all the collisions and diflSculties in Kansas have been pro- 
duced by the schemes of foreign interference which have been developed in this 
report, in violation of the principles and in evasion of the provisions of the Kansas- 
Nebraska act, it may be found in the fact that in Nebraska, to which the emigrant 
aid societies did not extend their operations, and into which the stream of emigra- 
tion was permitted to flow in its usual and natural channels, nothing has occurred 
to disturb the peace and harmony of the Territory', while the principle of self-gov- 
ernment, in obedience to the constitution, has had fair play, and is quietly woi'kinp; 
out its legitimate results. 

It now only remains for your committee to respond to the two specific recom- 
mendations of the President in his special message. They are as follows : 

" This, it seems to me, can be best accomplished by providing that, when the inhabitants of 
Kansas maj' desire it, and shall be of sufficient numbers to constitute ft State, a convention of 
delegates, duly elected by the qualified voters, shall assemble to frame a constitution, and thus 
prepare, through regular and lawful means, for its admission into the ^nion as a State. I re- 
spectfully recommend the enactment of a law to that eflect. i 

" I recommend, also, that a special appropriation be made to defray a9^ expense-which may 
become requisite in the execution of the laws or the maintenance of public order in the Terri- 
tory of Kansas." 

In compliance with the first recommendation, your committee^sk leave to report 
a bill authorizing the legislature of the Territory to provide byl^w for the election ' 
of delegates by the people, and the assembling of a convention to form a constitu- 
tion and State government, preparatory to their admission into the Union on an 
equal footing vv'ith the original States, as soon as it shall appear, by a census to be 
taken under the direction of the governor, by the authority of the legislature, that 
the Territory contains ninety-three thousand four hundred and twenty inhabitants — 
that being the number required by the present ratio of representation for a member 
of Congress. 

In compliance with the other recommendation, your committee propose to ofl:er 
to the appropriation bill an amendment appropriating such sum as shall be found 
necessary, by the estimates to be obtained, for the purpose i-ndicated in the recom- 
mendation of the President. 

All of which is respectfully submitted to the Senate by your committee. 



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